EFF leader Julius Malema says whatever the outcome of his sentencing at the East London Magistrate’s Court, “the revolution must continue.”
He was speaking outside the court on Friday on the first day of his pre-sentencing hearing following his conviction late last year for contravening several gun laws during his party’s celebrations in 2018.
“We are attacked because we are the only black authority; we are the only black authority that speaks and other people listen. They do not listen to anyone accept the EFF,” he said.
in a veiled attack against lobby group AfriForum, Malema said white people are scared of the EFF because they are a recognised black authority.
“The white people who brought us to this court, it is because they do not like being challenged when you challenge them; they want to use you as an example.
“I have been an example for the rest of my life and I will be an example even in my grave. I will never retreat, I will never surrender to white supremacy.
“No prison can make me to retreat from my ideas. No [threat of] death will make me to retreat from my ideas. Nobody will ever intimidate me and change me from who I am because I am black and I am proud to be black.”
EFF vs Afriforum
He said AfriForum is afraid of political debates and uses courts to settle political differences. AfriForum is responsible for Malema’s successful conviction at the East London Magistrate’s Court.
“When I joined the struggle, I knew that three things might happen to me – they will either arrest me or they will either kill me. If they do not kill me, I will attain my freedom.”
Malema said he is scared of poverty more than he is of being imprisoned.
“We are scared of unemployment, we are scared of being landless, we are scared of living without our dignity as black people,” he said.
Despite being part of the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), Malema cast aspersions on the courts, saying that they are informed by hatred.
“We must never be shaken by a court that is informed by hatred, that is informed by politics of AfriForum,” he said.
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The warning
Malema gave a stern warning to AfriForum.
“They must pray the EFF must never be a government in South Africa because the day the EFF becomes a government in South Africa, we are going to lock up all AfriForum members because they are terrorists, because they are anti-South Africa, they undermine our country, its freedom and its constitution,” he said.
Hint of an appeals process
Malema said he believed that the constitution will prevail over the racist attacks that he and his party are under.
“Any ruling that is unjust, any ruling that is does not follow the law and the constitution does not deserve our respect. We must never respect anyone who uses the constitution of the republic of South Africa to perpetuate racism, to perpetuate white supremacy,” he said.
EFF policies
Malema said he is being persecuted for his ideas on the return of land to South African black people without any compensation. This is one of his party’s policies.
“That is why they hate us they want to continue to be in charge of the stolen land. This is our land, no ship came with land when they came from Europe.”
“They found this land here and we are right when we say we will expropriate it without compensation, whether they like it or not we will nationalise the mines” he added.
Malema said he wants black South Africans to be in charge of the South African economy.
“The majority of the economy must be owned by the majority of South Africans and the majority of South Africans are black Africans,” he said.
Malema faces up to 15 years in prison for the kind of charges that he has been convicted on. But a social worker in court argued that Malema should receive a lighter sentence that does not involve going to prison.
The gun song
Ironically at the beginning of the rally outside the court, one of the EFF leaders, Sinawo Tambo, led crowds with a song that expressed their comfortability with guns: “Isibhamu yinto yami,” said the song. The isiZulu song loosely translates to “a gun is my thing”.
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