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Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema has discouraged his
supporters from burning public property, saying they will still need the
facilities after their protests ended.
Speaking at the party’s June 16 rally in Embalenhle, Mpumalanga,
Malema praised the students of the #FeesMustFall and #RhodesMustFall
movements.
“The EFF are behind you. We are not living in 1976, we are living
now and we have our own challenges. When you protest don’t burn libraries and
clinics. Barricade the roads, we will still the need the clinics.”
He called on black people to love themselves, their languages,
bodies and culture. Malema said that black pride is what the likes of Tsietsi
Mashinini, OR Tambo and Walter Sisulu fought for in the struggle before.
Malema told the thousands who had gathered that there is no
difference between June 16 of 1976 and August 16 of 2012, as on both days the
government gunned down people.
“The ANC will never parade and claim August 16 when 34 miners were
gunned down by police after weeks in protest over wages.
“Today must be like August 16, we must remember the fallen that
were killed by the government. In 1976 black people were killed. In 2012 August
the same thing happened, black people were killed. The Zuma government is the
same with the Malan government; they both hate black people, they both killed
black people,” Malema shouted.
The programme was set to begin at ten but the EFF commander in chief arrived just after 12:30 to the venue.
The party has been in the region for the past few weeks holding a
series of community meetings in preparation for the upcoming local
elections.
Malema lashed out at his former political home saying that after
the Marikana massacre, they celebrated the alleged role of Cyril Ramaphosa in
the killing of the miners by making him deputy president.
The land question remained high on Malema’s agenda, as he told the
group that South Africans are currently worse off than Zimbabweans because black
people have no ownership of the land, saying they are “beggars in their own
country.”
“Wealth is not what is in your bank account, being rich is to have
the land. When you have land you can create jobs. You can even hire the children
of white people.”
Most of the party leader’s address had to do with driving home the
message of EFF-run municipalities.
He spoke of the need for better schooling facilities, the need for
access to sanitation and free water and electricity for the poor.
