South African opposition torn apart over apartheid song

South Africa's main opposition party has accused its main radical left rival of inciting hatred by singing a famous controversial anti-apartheid chant and shutting the door on any broad coalition ahead of the elections next year.

It was during a Saturday rally that Julius Malema, leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), sang "Kill the Boer, the Farmer" to some 90,000 cheering supporters in a crowded stadium in Soweto.

The Boers are the descendants of the first Dutch settlers.

“Here is a man determined to start a civil war,” accused John Steenhuisen, leader of the liberal-inspired Democratic Alliance (DA). He described Julius Malema - "Juju", as South Africans call him - as a "bloodthirsty tyrant" determined to incite "mass murder".

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party did not immediately comment.

the Democratic Alliance (DA) plans to file a complaint against the charismatic and willingly provocative Mr. Malema, 42 years old. Wearing his indestructible red beret, the latter raised his fist for a long time on Saturday on an elevated stage, in a whirlwind of red and gold confetti.

This great show, intended to celebrate ten years of its movement, also took the form of a show of force less than a year from crucial elections where the ANC, in power since the end of apartheid, could for the first time lose its parliamentary majority and therefore the presidency.

Alliance Rejected

This latest falling outcomes as opposition parties actively seek alliance strategies to dislodge the ANC in 2024.

Julius Malema recently said he was ready to join a coalition with the DA, which leads a group of six small parties. But John Steenhuisen ruled it out last week, saying the EFF does not share the coalition's "values ​​and principles".

Any prospect of rapprochement, at least at the national level, seemed ruled out on Monday, John Steenhuisen having also described the EFF as "political enemy number one".

The DA, still largely perceived as a white party, could win 16% of the vote according to a recent poll, against 13% for the EFF, which notably advocates land reform favorable to black South Africans.