EFF will not back down on land nationalisation: Malema

EFF leader Julius Malema says the red berets will not negotiate on its first cardinal pillar, which campaigns for the nationalisation of all land, placing it in curatorship of the state.

Malema was speaking during a media briefing on Tuesday after parliament adopted the constitutional review committee’s report recommending a constitutional amendment to expropriate land without compensation.

Following the adoption of the report, ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu indicated that he would bring a motion that will seek to take the process of the constitutional amendment forward.

“[Mthembu] has threatened that he will be kick-starting the process of amending the constitution through the introduction of the bill. So that’s how far we are. The land issue is getting resolved in South Africa through a peaceful means within the constitutional framework of the republic,” Malema said.

“One of the things we had made it very clear was that if they don’t start the process of the bill, we will start the process of the bill. He [Mthembu] was trying to prevent the EFF from starting the process of the bill… All of us must reside on a land that is owned by the state, meaning that the land is not a commodity.”

Malema said there were no negotiations between the EFF and the ANC on land policies.

“Our cardinal pillar number one is non-negotiable, and the temptation from some of us in the EFF to even want to compromise that cardinal pillar is a cardinal sin. The ANC will present its position, we will present our position and we will vote when the time is right,” Malema said. 

“We are very clear about the land and we are not going to shift from that. Anything that seeks to make the EFF shift from a non-negotiable, it means you are not genuine, even from the beginning…For as long as I’m there, I will never present a proposal to the EFF that says we must agree with a mixed ownership of the land…The land should belong to the state.”