JULIUS MALEMA | EFF is the true custodian of the Freedom Charter

The Freedom Charter was a thorn in the side of the apartheid regime, and fundamentally undermined the racist attempt to dehumanise African people.

The year 2022, marks 67 years since the adoption of the Freedom Charter in Kliptown, Soweto. It was on this fateful gathering, that thousands of South Africans collaborated to consolidate a common agenda of what must characterise a liberated society.

It was through the Freedom Charter that black people expressed the inalienable rights held by African people, and from which Africans gained a common purpose

The demands of the Freedom Charter were demands for humanity. 

They were demands for equality, peace, prosperity, dignity and wealth for African people.

In the face of these demands, concepts such as separate development, segregation, land dispossession, poor healthcare, and the poverty of African people, could not stand.

In the face of such logical and rational demands by our people, the apartheid police in attendance themselves, constituted the gathering of the people, and could not deny the truth of what our people were crafting.

As the EFF, in accordance with our founding manifesto, we are inspired by the radical interpretation of the Freedom Charter, and salute the brave African people, who chartered the blueprint for an independent Africa.

That blueprint has unfortunately been betrayed, and the EFF today stands as the true custodian of the Freedom Charter.

Through our seven non-negotiable cardinal pillars, we embody the aspirations of the Africans who crafted this historic document 

It is the EFF’s first cardinal pillar, which addresses the question of land, which is captured in the Freedom Charter

The EFF’s call for Land Expropriation Without Compensation for Equal Distribution and The Nationalisation of Mines, Banks and other strategic sectors of the economy, is an echo of the Freedom Charter’s clarion call.

This first cardinal pillar of the EFF is an echo of the Freedom Charter’s call for the land to be shared among those who work it, and for the people to occupy land wherever they choose.

The EFF is a lone voice for the equal redistribution of land in SA and occupation of land by the people!

This principle of the Freedom Charter has been betrayed by the ruling party, which at first rejected the EFF’s call for land expropriation without compensation, only to proceed to distort this radical move to address the sins of colonialism, to maintain the control of white-monopoly capital over the means of production

It is the EFF which in its second non-negotiable cardinal pillar, calls for The Nationalisation of Mines, Banks and strategic sectors of our economy. 

This is in line with the Freedom Charter’s call which states that, “The mineral wealth beneath the soil, the Banks and monopoly industry shall be transferred to the ownership of the people as a whole”. 

This is without a shadow of a doubt a call for nationalisation by the gallant liberation heroes who crafted the Freedom Charter. It is a call which was made by former president Nelson Mandela, who is so celebrated by liberals and even right-wingers today.

This call for the democratisation of wealth is, however, undermined and distorted, in service of ensuring the multinational mining cartels and white monopoly capital retain control of the wealth of African people.

It is the EFF, in line with the Freedom Charter’s call for free medical care and hospitalisation for all, that called for clinics to operate 24 hours and for the disparity between private healthcare and public healthcare to be done away with.

The ANC rejected the EFF’s motion, thus betraying the Freedom Charter.

It is the EFF, led by the fearless EFF Students’ Command, which has been at the forefront of the fight for free, quality and decolonised education, in line with the demand of the Freedom Charter for the doors of learning to be opened for all.

Not only has the ANC betrayed this fundamental demand of the Freedom Charter, it has betrayed the generation of 1976, and resolved, to suspend, expel, imprison and even kill young people, who have called for the fulfilment of this demand for dignity and knowledge.

The EFF has called for decent housing, in line with the Freedom Charter, instead of this being provided, our people are made to stay in shacks on top of one another, suffering indignity, lack of hygiene and disaster through floods and fires. 

The EFF has been a lone voice in radically and defiantly opposing corruption, which undermines people’s right to equality, service delivery and a government which is accountable to the people.

The ruling party has betrayed this principle of the Freedom Charter, and defends money laundering, kidnapping and bribery with its chest.

In the face of scrutiny and threats of votes being lost, the EFF stands alone in defence of African unity and independence, an ideal enshrined in the Freedom Charter, as the right for self-determination.

It is therefore common knowledge that those who claim to be the founders of the Freedom Charter, have betrayed it and no longer have any claim over it.

We write to  Walter Sisulu, Chief Albert Luthuli and OR Tambo to tell them that the Freedom Charter and all its ideals for emancipating African people is in the hands of the EFF, as the only fearless and uncaptured organisation.

We have taken the baton from the generation of 1955, which brought ideas to confront guns, and adopted these ideals towards a better humanity. 

The Freedom Charter is now a weapon in the hands of the EFF, and as a generation which will usher economic freedom in the continent, we promise never to betray it.

Julius Malema is commander in chief and president of the EFF