Mandela: Speaking to reporters after singing to kill whites

Charlotte Thorbjornsson, Folkets Nyheter (Sweden), Nov. 26, 2006

A short film showing former South African president Nelson Mandela singing about killing whites has recently been made available on the web by the organisation African Crisis.

The film, which was shot in 1992, shows Nelson Mandela together with members of the ANC, the ANC’s military fraction the Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) and the South African Communist Party singing a war song of how they have pledged to kill the white inhabitants of the country.

The song is mainly performed in Xhosa, the language spoken by the African tribe to which Mandela and the majority of the ANC belong. To the right of Mandela in the picture stands the present South African Minister of Intelligence, Ronnie Kasrils, who is among the first to clench his fist in a so-called black power salute during the song.

The second part of the film shows how women and children, all members of the ANC, are singing the same song during a political meeting.

Fuelling the masses with war songs is common in Africa. It was used for example in former Rhodesia, presently Zimbabwe, where they were called “Chimurenga” (Eng. war songs).
Former leader of the ANC Youth League, Peter Mokaba, has been a major driving force behind the agitation among blacks against whites in South Africa, using songs that encouraged the murdering of whites.

Mokaba, presently South Africa’s Environmental and Tourist Minister, was one of the most energetic song and dance leaders during the meetings held by the ANC prior to the elections in 1994 where slogans like “Kill the Farmer!” and “Kill the Boer!” were chanted openly:

“Hamba kahle mkhonto we Sizwe, Tihna Abantu bomkhonto Sizimisele Ukuwa bulala woma lamabunu”
—We members of Umkhonto are prepared to kill all the Boers.

“Khwela phezukwendlu Ubutshele umanishaya Ibhunu umama vyajabula”
—Get on the roof and tell them that when I hit the Boer, my mother becomes happy.

“Amabhunu ahlupha abazali Ekhaya bathi ziphi Izingane zabo Sizbashaya nge Nge bazooka”
—Whites and Boers are troubling our parents at home: we are going to hit them with our Ak-47’s and bazookas.

Though today he maintains that the songs were just a sort of “campfire songs”, these statements by Peter Mokaba made during a meeting with black students, published in The Johannesburg Star on the 25th of April in 1993, tell a different story:
—They are complaining that in our songs, in our chants, we have been saying “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer.” I repeat: “Kill the Boer, the Farmer, Kill the Boer, the Farmer. Shoot to kill—nyamazano” (Eng. the prey).

—Whether they like it or not, this is our chant. This is our song. This is our tradition. This is our culture, whether they like it or not …

Songs encouraging the killing of South Africa’s white farmers, of which almost 2000 have been murdered by blacks since the ANC took over power in 1994, are still common in South Africa. Even the president of the country, Thabo Mkebi, has been witnessed when taking part in these dances and songs.

During the trial earlier this year against South Africa’s then vice president Jacob Zuma, who was charged with rape but acquitted, crowds of blacks were singing Zuma’s personal favourite song “My Machine Gun” outside the courthouse.

Zuma is generally considered to have the biggest chances of becoming South Africa’s next president.

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