admin
“Yes, I am party to it [the agreement] and I will continue to practise my culture and my heritage and I will continue to be sensitive to the needs of other communities,” he said.
He said the agreement was in keeping with the African National Congress Youth League’s stance on the matter from the beginning of the court proceedings.
“If you go to the tapes of the court hearing and check what we are signing for today, there is no difference. We need to educate our people about our culture in relation to our struggle, but also we need to educate our people of being sensitive so that they do not offend other people or communities,” Malema said.
On Wednesday, ANC lawyer Leslie Mkhabela said an agreement on the song was signed by the party, lobby group AfriForum, and the Transvaal Agricultural Union (Tau SA) on Tuesday night.
The agreement stated the parties agreed that AfriForum and Tau SA would abandon an Equality Court order and that the ANC and Malema agreed to abandon the appeal to the Supreme Court.
The mediation agreement was made an order of court by the Supreme Court of Appeal.
The Equality Court had convicted Malema of hate speech and in effect banned the singing of the song in September last year, in a case brought by AfriForum.
Judge Colin Lamont held that the words undermined people’s dignity and were discriminatory and harmful.
In a separate case last year, shortly before the Equality Court ruling, the South Gauteng High Court declared the song an incitement to violence.
An ANC appeal against the ruling had been indefinitely postponed and, according to AfriForum lawyer Willie Spies, his understanding was that “the appeal and the case will eventually die a natural death”.
This case involved the same song, but resulted from a dispute between two businessmen about whether the term Dubula iBhunu was appropriate when displayed on a banner at a demonstration. — Sapa
Online Reporter