Expert witness in hate crime case unpacks use and significance of ‘Dubul’ ibhunu’

The role of songs in performance politics and how the struggle past intersects with the present was dissected in the Equality Court on Friday through the testimony of African literature scholar Prof Elizabeth Gunner.

Gunner is an expert witness in the case brought against EFF leader Julius Malema, MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi and the party by lobby group AfriForum over the alleged singing of Dubul’ ibhunu [“shoot the Boer”] outside the Senekal magistrate’s court during the bail hearing of those accused of murdering Free State farm manager Brendin Horner.

She spoke of the deeper meaning of political songs and their role in the public life of a state, particularly an African state, given the long cultural matrix and history.

“Songs can be used to inspire people. It has to be taken beyond a literal context. It has to be taken as a call to courage, not to be afraid and not fall down when you feel like falling down.

“Songs can be used to articulate a desire for political change,” Gunner said.

LISTEN | Malema calls 'Kill the Boer' song a chant not a command

Advocate Mfesane Ka-Siboto, who represents the EFF, reiterated his client’s stance that apartheid does not only take the form of what is commonly understood as apartheid but the economic oppression aspect was never done away with.

Using a different song for context, Malema o tshela thupa [“Malema will wield the stick”] sung at EFF rallies, he asked what she thought about the use of the song in the context of democracy.

“You can see the song as an example of a song working to call people together, to make a point about the South African present and history, using it as a means and expression of defiance.

“The song is saying ‘we’re not going to give up, don’t take us lightly’. The stick is a metaphor for ‘don’t forget we’re strong’. It was an illustration of defiance against [former president] Jacob Zuma and his government,” Gunner said.

She said struggle songs were not static and belonged to no individual, and could be used differently without changing the core meaning or instructing violence.

Gunner also referenced Chief Albert Luthuli’s famous Thina sizwe [“we, the black nation”] as an example of “a very important intervention in 1953".

Umshini wami [“My machine gun, my machine gun, please bring me my gun”] famously used by Zuma was a metaphoric song.

“He didn’t expect someone to come and present him with a machine gun. It was an allusion to heroism, struggle, and what you do when you are in a position to fight for something.

“To simply say as a general proposition that song can incite, has then to be qualified by the context ... Malema has a policy of land reform and he draws on a long tradition of South African song to articulate that,” Gunner said.

On Thursday Malema tackled AfriForum’s advocate Mark Oppenheimer over the sensitivity towards black trauma opposed to white trauma.

This was in relation to the narrative that the song encourages violence against white people, especially in farm communities.

“Why can’t you take responsibility? Why can’t you for once just say sorry for the crimes you have committed?” he said.

“Why do you want to become victims when we are the biggest victims here, when we have lost everything, when we, as black people remain a traumatised nation?

“I was young when police walked into my mother’s house and she was sleeping. Men took off her blankets. I live with that for the rest of my life. That is not real trauma, because it’s not white. A black child’s trauma is not a trauma. We are still a traumatised nation.”

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