The apartheid anthem is next, says EFF following flag ruling

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) have released a statement welcoming Wednesday’s Equality Court judgment, which found that “gratuitous display” of the old South African flag constitutes hate speech.

According to the party, the “apartheid flag” had now fallen and the “apartheid anthem” must be next.

Following expressing their approval over the fact that displays of the “evil flag” would now be a violation of the constitution, the party said that in light of the ruling earlier today, President Cyril Ramaphosa must “remove Die Stem from our national anthem”.

“Forcing black people to sing Die Stem is like asking them each day to salute the apartheid flag,” the statement says.

“It must be common cause that the apartheid national anthem must follow after its flag. The apartheid flag and apartheid anthem belong to the same species. They are two sides of one coin,” the statement argues.

“When white supremacists display the flag, they salute it by singing Die Stem because they belong in the same anti-black racism performance acts,” it continues.

The party has been consistent in its calls for the Afrikaans and English parts of the South African national anthem, which are based on apartheid-era Die Stem, must be dropped. The Afrikaans section utilises both the lyrics and tune of Die Stem while the English part utilises the melody.

READ MORE: Malema will write his master’s thesis on why Die Stem must go

The party has refused to stand for this part of the anthem in parliament, during occasions such as the first sitting of SA’s sixth parliament in May, and before Cyril Ramaphosa’s second state of the nation address in February, remaining seated as other MPs sang this part of the anthem.

Before this, during the EFF election manifesto launch at the Gaint Stadium in Soshanguve at the beginning of February, the party’s chairperson, Dali Mpofu, led the singing of the national anthem, leaving out Die Stem as well as the English section, concluding instead with “Mayibuye iAfrica”.

“Please can we all rise and sing Nkosi Sikelel’iAfrika without Die Stem van Suid Afrika,” Mpofu said.

The party’s desire for this part of the anthem to be dropped is also the subject of Malema’s masters’ thesis.

In November last year, Malema shared an email from Wits University showing that his master’s thesis proposal had been accepted.

It sees him examining whether there is a relationship between white supremacy and Die Stem, a portion of which has been retained in English and Afrikaans in the post-democratic national anthem.

And shortly before this, the party marked Heritage Day by calling for the Die Stem section of the anthem to be scrapped.

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