CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Aug 28, (AP): A South African politician accused by the Trump administration of being at the forefront of an anti-white movement was found guilty of hate speech Wednesday for race-fueled comments he made in 2022. Julius Malema, who is the leader of a small opposition party, was found guilty by an equality court over comments he made at a political rally.

"No white man is going to beat me up and (I) call myself a revolutionary the following day,” Malema said at the rally. "You must never be scared to kill. A revolution demands that at some point there must be killing because the killing is part of a revolutionary act.” Malema has previously been found guilty of hate speech in a separate case for repeating an apartheid-era chant at rallies. 

Malema, who leads the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters party, featured prominently in a video US President Donald Trump played in the Oval Office during a meeting with South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa in May. The video was used to confront Ramaphosa with false claims that the South African government was allowing the widespread killing of white farmers to seize their land.

That allegation is at the center of the Trump administration's move to cut all financial assistance to South Africa over what it calls the Black-led government's anti-white and anti-American policies. The South African government says the US criticism is based on misinformation. Malema, who is a lawmaker but not in government, has often been condemned in his own country for his political speech.

Equality courts in South Africa deal specifically with allegations of discrimination, hate speech and harassment based on race, gender or sexual orientation. They can order those found guilty to issue a public apology, pay compensation or recommend them for criminal prosecution. No order has yet been made over Malema's punishment in the latest case.