This comes after the commission received complaints of hate speech against the red beret leader during the party's conference in Western Cape in October.

It said that it also had video recordings backing the allegations against Malema, who can be heard saying: "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."

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the commission has threatened to take Malema and the EFF to the Equality Court within 10 days if he does not apologise and retract some of the statements made.

Speaking to Bongani Bingwa, Majola said that the letter given to the party was not a summons but an opportunity to apologise.



    Our letter to them was not an order for them to obey, we gave them an option before we took the matter to court.
    Bongani Majola, Chairperson - South African Human Rights Commission

    We did not want to give them to summons to go to court, we wanted to give them an opportunity to reconsider and retract because looking at jurisprudence, it is very clear that what they did incite violence, incite harm, and it propagate hatred.
    Bongani Majola, Chairperson - South African Human Rights Commission

Malema also said: "The EFF must be known that it is not a playground for racists, that any racists that plays next to the EFF and threatens and beat up the membership and the leadership of the EFF, that is the application to meet your maker with immediate effect."

Majola denied having soft gloves for the party and its leader.



    We have decided not to investigate, we have decided that it must be the courts that do that. The strategy that they are adopting is that once you call them to order, they try to make you an enemy and make you appear as if you are no longer impartial.
    Bongani Majola, Chairperson - South African Human Rights Commission

    We are not caving in; we are given two options which is to investigate or take the matter to court. They are still stuck in the past where they feel that things should be sorted out through violence.
    Bongani Majola, Chairperson - South African Human Rights Commission

Source: EWN