Egyptian club Al Ahly cancels tryout for South Africa's Mokoena over his support of a politician

Egyptian soccer team Al Ahly, the most successful club in Africa, has canceled a trial for South Africa midfielder Teboho Mokoena over his support of a politician.

Al Ahly said in a statement Thursday that it was not bring‐ ing Mokoena in for a planned try‐ out after he expressed support for South African opposition party leader Julius Malema, who has been accused of regularly singing a song that incites racial hatred in his home country. Malema denies the song sparks hatred.

On his return to South Africa this week after the African Cup of Nations, Mokoena referred to Malema, the president of the Economic Freedom Fighters party, as "my favorite president in the country."

Al Ahly then canceled Mokoena's tryout next month.

"This decision comes in light of recent events surrounding Mr. Teboho Mokoena's public state‐ ment at OR Tambo Airport in South Africa where he expressed support for a notorious political leader Julius Malema who called for the killing of white South Africans," Al Ahly said.

They said Mokoena's "endorse‐ ment of divisive views contra‐ dicts our core principles."

The song in question has the lyrics "shoot the boer" or "kill the boer." Boer is an Afrikaans word that refers to white farmers who settled in South Africa as a result of Dutch colonialism.

Malema has sung the song fre‐ quently and been accused by some civil rights groups of hate speech. He says he sings it be‐ cause it is a liberation song that was prominent among Black people during the struggle against the apartheid system of white minority rule before 1994 and it should not be taken liter‐ ally.

South Africa's equality court cleared Malema of hate speech over the song.