A South African court has found opposition politician Julius Malema guilty of hate speech for telling his supporters at a 2022 rally that they should "never be scared to kill."

Malema, the firebrand leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, has long been criticised by South Africa's white minority for his radical rhetoric and his singing of the anti-apartheid song "Kill the Boer, kill the farmer", which some say incites anti-white violence.

He has been at the centre of tensions between Washington and Pretoria and featured prominently in a video that President Donald Trump showed in a meeting with his counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa in May to back claims of a "white targeting" in South Africa.

At a rally in 2022, Malema referred to a fight two years prior between members of his EFF party and white parents at a school accused of holding a whites-only dance party, telling his supporters that "killing is part of a revolutionary act."

DA party welcomes ruling

Seized by the South African Human Rights Commission, the Equality Court ruled on Wednesday that Malema's remarks "constituted hate speech... as they demonstrated a clear intention to incite harm and to promote or propagate hatred."

The remarks were an "exhortation to kill white males who had participated" in the 2020 incident and to respond violently to racist behaviour, the ruling said.

Malema's EFF party said it would appeal the judgment, arguing the court's interpretation "strips the speech of its political, historical and ideological context."

South Africa's second-largest party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), which strongly opposes the EFF, welcomed the ruling as "a victory against Malema's campaign to incite racial division and hatred in our society."

The DA added that: "South Africa's reputation on the global stage is at risk when such hatred is condoned or ignored."