The AfriForum Youth's hate speech complaint against Julius Malema will begin with procedural matters on May 3 in the Equality Court in Johannesburg, the group said.

Chairperson Ernst Roets explained that no evidence will be led or witness statements taken, as it will focus on procedural matters relating to their challenge to Malema's singing of the lyrics "shoot the boer".

"We welcome the fact that a date for a directive hearing has been set," Roets said.

The High Court in Pretoria recently granted an interdict preventing Malema from singing the lyrics, pending the start of the Equality Court case, and this was followed by a similar later interdict in the High Court in Johannesburg.

Roets said that the May 3 "directive hearing" would be for the parties to meet and decide how the legal process will go forward.

Issues for discussion will include whether it will be heard before a judge or a magistrate, which court it will be in and to set a date for the official hearing.

On March 15, the Equality Court ruled that Malema had used hate speech relating to comments about the woman who laid a charge of rape against President Jacob Zuma.

He plans to appeal that ruling.

The furore around the words "shoot the boer" - the insertion of a chant by former Youth League leader Peter Mokaba, into the song "the cowards are afraid", reached fever pitch when Africaker Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) leader Eugene Terre'Blanche was killed on Easter Saturday.

The ANC says that the song is part of their liberation heritage and should not be taken literally, while others believe that it incites violence.

AfriForum drew up a list of 1 600 people murdered on South African farms in recent years to show that Malema's words could have consequences, but when they tried to deliver it to the league's offices in Johannesburg, they were refused entry and the lists were trampled into the gutter outside the building.