'He dribbled AfriForum's counsel' — Phumzile Van Damme weighs in on Malema's testimony

Former DA MP Phumzile Van Damme has weighed in on the testimony of EFF leader Julius Malema in the hate speech civil case launched against the EFF by lobby group AfriForum. 

The case is in connection with the EFF allegedly chanting “Kill the Boer, kill the farmer”, a chant often heard at EFF events, including in Senekal in the Free State two years ago. 

AfriForum accuses the EFF of inciting violence and wants the court to declare that the chant constitutes hate speech, and order the party to apologise.

The group claimed there is a link between the chant by the EFF and farm murders, which Malema denied.

Van Damme responded to a video clip shared by the EFF in which Malema responds to AfriForum's questions about the EFF's political ideologies. 

“Cuba has got everything it needs to survive. For me, it has survived. The level of literacy, life expectancy and free quality education and health care in Cuba. There is no capitalist state that produces more doctors than the communist state of Cuba, yet they have limited resources,” said Malema. 

During the continued exchange about politics in Cuba, AfriForum's lawyer, advocate Mark Oppenheimer, asked Malema what he thought would happen if the US lifted the ban on Cuba.

“The Cubans would choose who they want to trade with. If South Africans want to transact with Cuba, they risk isolation by US imperialism. The Cubans must choose who they want to trade with and we must choose if we want to trade with the Cubans without being taken through harsh harassment,” he said. 

LISTEN | Leave race out of it, no-one's plotting to kill white farmers in SA, Malema reiterates

Van Damme asked whether the court case was about a chant or the political ideologies of the EFF and Malema.

She claimed Oppenheimer was not prepared to deal with Malema as he was not “some ordinary witness”.

“This is so weird. Is it political ideology on trial here or a chant? Also, putting Julius Malema on the stand was a tactical mistake. From the footage I've seen, he dribbled AfriForum's counsel. He was ill-prepared to deal with Malema.

“You’ve got to be prepared for the answers Malema could give. The man is an orator, not some ordinary witness. This was clearly not taken into account. He has now put AfriForum on trial, instead. Cringing hard,” Van Damme tweeted.