Malema lashes out at whites, calls for unity among blacks over land

EFF leader Julius Malema has lashed out at white people, who he accused of defending white privilege and perpetuating landlessness against black people.

Malema was speaking in the National Assembly during the debate on the joint constitutional review committee's report which recommends a constitutional amendment to provide for expropriation of land without compensation.

Malema noted that white people who participated in the public participation process of the committee, whether rich or poor and even the landless, were in unison in opposing expropriation of land without compensation. He said this was because when white interests and privilege were threatened, white people protected each other.

“Why would people think alike like that, if it is not an issue of racism and privilege which seeks to perpetuate landlessness among those who were conquered by criminals who came into our country and took our land?”

He said that among black people, and Africans in particular, there were different views as they did not come from a process that sought to isolate anyone. Rather, he said, it came from a background that sought to win a debate through an honest engagement.

“Here you have got a group of people who 90% of them vote for the same party. This is white privilege, this is in defence of white privilege which seeks to perpetuate landlessness among our people,” said Malema.

He called for black unity, saying this was very important when it came to the matter of land.

“The intention was never to run a referendum because if we had conducted a referendum you can be guaranteed that 90% of South Africans would have voted for expropriation without compensation.”

Malema also took credit for the historical adoption of the report by the house, reminding MPs that it was as a result of a successful motion by the EFF - and that anyone else who did not want to hear that fact was distorting history.

Meanwhile, the DA warned that changing the constitution to allow for expropriation without compensation was just a political ploy to get votes out of desperate, vulnerable people.

DA MP Thandeka Mbabama said effective land reform was possible without threatening food security, without undermining commercial farming, without destroying social cohesion and without changing the Bill of Rights.

She criticised that the integrity of the joint constitutional review committee, saying it was compromised by collusion between “the wily EFF and the beleaguered ANC”.

“It was apparent that the tail was wagging the dog as the red berets ran roughshod over the two cowering ANC chairpersons and all but took over the process of the constitutional review committee,” she said.

“When their duplicity was pointed out, the EFF reacted with the usual impertinence that is so characteristic of these rude, rabble-rousing red berets who surely have had no parental guidance in their formative years,” added Mbabama, who also criticised the other smaller parties that support expropriation as “just cheerleaders masquerading as independent political parties”.

The DA has already indicated that it would take Parliament to court over the process followed by the committee, which the party describes as “fatally flawed” and unconstitutional.