'Shoot the boer' echoes through Tshwane council as ANC disrupts state of capital address

Tshwane ANC councillors have sung the banned 'dubula ibhunu' song inside council chambers‚ where mayor Solly Msimanga was due to deliver the State of the Capital Address on Thursday.

The lyrics “dubul' ibhunu‚ ayesaba amagwala” reverberated through the chambers‚ as ANC councillors sought to disrupt the address and council meeting.

But Msimanga has vowed to press ahead with the address on Thursday afternoon.

Loosey translating to “shoot the boer”‚ the Equality Court in Johannesburg ruled in 2010 that lyrics of the song constituted hate speech.

The South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg affirmed the ruling in 2011‚ and effectively banned it.

In his order‚ acting Judge Leon Halgryn said “the publication and chanting of the words “dubul’ ibhunu”‚ prima facie satisfies the crime of incitement to murder”.

The song is no longer common in social protests in the country.

But the ANC in Tshwane‚ which was dislodged from power following the 2016 local government elections‚ resorted to it to disrupt council.

The party's councillors said they do not want Msimanga to deliver his address on Thursday because 6 April is the day Solomon Mahlangu was hanged in 1979.

Lesego Makhubela‚ an ANC councillor‚ told Speaker Rachel Mathebe the mayor can deliver his address any other day just not April 6.

“I want to know do you want to hang Solomon Mahlangu for the second time and open our wounds. Otherwise this council will not continue‚” said Makhubela.

He said delivering the address on this day was also tantamount to commemorating the arrival of colonialist Jan van Riebeeck in South Africa in 1652.

The councillors carried placards saying “the DA killed Solomon Mahlangu [on] 06 April 1979”.

Makhubela explained that their basis for this claim is that Mahlangu was hanged on the orders of Judge Ramon Leon‚ the biological father of former DA leader Tony Leon.

Mathebe adjourned the seating‚ but Msimanga later vowed to go ahead with the address.

In a statement issued on Thursday afternoon‚ his spokesman Samkelo Mgobozi said they would not be deterred by "this cheap politicking".

"As such‚ the State of the Capital Address will continue as scheduled where we will announce to our people the progress made thus far after inheriting a shambles from the previous administration."

- TMG Digital/SowetanLIVE