by BAR editor and columnist, Dr. Marsha Adebayo
In the transition to Black majority rule, the African National Congress shelved the Freedom Charter, the guiding document of the South African liberation struggle. The Charter maintained that the nation’s natural resources and land belonged to the people. Julius Malema, of the Economic Freedom Fighters party, has been charged with riotous assembly for calling on Blacks to occupy white-“owned” land.
Occupy White Owned Land Says EFF’s Malema -- and Solidarity with the Cuban People in Wake of Castro’s Death
by BAR editor and columnist, Dr. Marsha Adebayo
“The EFF has re-energized and resuscitated the Freedom Charter and placed the demands of the Charter back on the negotiating table.”
Economic Freedom Fighter (EFF) leader Julius Malema issued a call to Black South Africans to occupy land illegally and brutally stolen by European military conquest. The challenge for Black South Africans to occupy settler land was issued after his court appearance at Bloemfontein Magistrates Court. Malema has been a vocal thorn in the side of the ANC for its betrayal of the goals of the liberation movement, and financial and political corruption. Malema is charged under a repressive apartheid era law, called the Riotous Assemblies Act. The government claims that Malema incited‚instigated‚ commanded or procured his EFF supporters and others to commit a crime‚ namely‚ trespass‚ in contravention of the Trespass Act of 1959.
The Riotous Assemblies Act was passed by the racist apartheid government in 1956 after the Freedom Charter was ratified in the township of Kliptown, a suburb of the formerly black township of Soweto near Johannesburg, June 1955. The primary goal of this Act was to criminalize and incarcerate Africans, like Nelson Mandela who sought to organize Black people to overthrow the oppressive apartheid regime. Now this apartheid-era law is being used by the ANC to criminalize and possibly send Malema, an opposition leader, to prison.
“The primary goal of this Act was to criminalize and incarcerate Africans.”
The 1955 Freedom Charter, articulated the core principles of the South African Congress Alliance, which consisted of the African National Congress (ANC) and its allies -- the South African Indian Congress, the South African Congress of Democrats and the Coloured People's Congress. It is characterized by its opening demand: "The People Shall Govern!" The EFF has re-energized and resuscitated the Freedom Charter and placed the demands of the Charter back on the negotiating table. One of the compromises demanded by apartheid-era leaders and their western compatriots during transition negotiations to Black rule was the abrogation of the Freedom Charter. However, Malema and the EFF stand uncompromisingly with the Freedom Charter:
The Land Shall Be Shared Among Those Who Work It!
“Restrictions of land ownership on a racial basis shall be ended, and all the land redivided amongst those who work it, to banish famine and land hunger;
The state shall help the peasants with implements, seed, tractors and dams to save the soil and assist the tillers;
Freedom of movement shall be guaranteed to all who work on the land;
All shall have the right to occupy land wherever they choose;
People shall not be robbed of their cattle, and forced labour and farm prisons shall be abolished.”
In addition, the Freedom Charter calls for the nationalization of banks, the mining industry, universal education, healthcare and democracy. Nevertheless, apartheid-era leaders, western powers and white landowners demanded and achieved the implementation of neo-liberal pro-western economic policies that have exploded economic and racial disparities. When I challenged US environmental policies as a negotiator, under the Gore-Mbeki Commission, I was told by US officials that the South African government had taken the Freedom Charter off the negotiating table.
“Malema argues that the apartheid-era law is not in line with the current South African constitution.”
Julius Malema and the EFF are now demanding, consistent with the Freedom Charter, that land be expropriated without compensation by current white landowners. Malema argues that the apartheid-era law is not in line with the current South African constitution. The case has now been postponed pending the outcome of the application in the high court. But, he told supporters in the interim, they must continue to occupy the land stolen by European settlers. Malema told his supporters:
“We want the land. The land must be returned to the hands of the people. When a state has refused to give you the land for the past 22 years it would be irresponsible of me to tell you to continue waiting. That’s why I tell you to occupy the land. Because they [the ANC] have failed to give you the land. If it means going to prison, because I tell you to occupy the land, so be it!...
Because that’s what [Robert] Sobukwe was prepared to do.
Sobukwe was prepared to die for the land.
Mandela was prepared to die for the land.
Chris Hani was prepared to die for the land.
Steve Biko, wanted the return of the land to the hands of its rightful owners
And who are the rightful owners of the land?
The Black African masses of our people!
We are not confused about this.
Land is everything.
Without land we are nothing.
Without land we have no identity….”
EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi addressed supporters with this declaration: “They must arrest all of us because it is us who want the land. It’s each and everybody who’s black, both living and dead… when we’re told that we can no longer tell our people but they’ve got the right to occupy the land wherever they choose.”
Land expropriation is the central issue for all oppressed people whether in South Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America or the US. Ownership of land is central to identity, wealth, food and water security. Land is the basis of sovereignty and sustainable power to ensure the protection and defense of current and future generations. The South African struggle to implement the Freedom Charter and the fight for land expropriation without compensation to current white landowners must be supported by all progressive movements.
To view Malema’s statement on occupying white settler land:
https://www.youtube.com/timedtext_video?v=rjBi3z-1yAs
In solidarity with the Cuban people, the EFF issued this statement on the occasion of comrade Fidel Castro’s passing:
South Africa: Castro an Unsurpassed Socialist Fighter -- Malema
The late Cuban President Fidel Castro was an unsurpassed socialist who fought against the capitalist system.
Those were the words of EFF leader Julius Malema when he wrote a letter to Castro's brother Raul.
"To us, Commander Fidel Castro is the unsurpassed socialist fighter who fought against capitalism as a system that promotes greed and profit at the expense of people's development," said Malema.
"What makes Companero Fidel Castro an outstanding leader of our revolution was his refusal to succumb to imperialism even under difficult conditions created by the illegal sanctions imposed by the imperialist USA."
Praise for Cuba
The world woke up to the news of Castro's passing on Saturday with many sending condolences to the Cuban nation. Many remembered his role in history and the liberation of South Africa.
Malema added that South Africans owed their democratic dispensation to the people of Cuba who humbled the arrogant and murderous apartheid regime during the battle of Cuito Cuanavale in Angola.
"It was during this battle that the South African apartheid soldiers suffered serious humiliation and the regime came to appreciate that it was not indispensable and this was so because of Cuban troops. The apartheid regime suffered serious financial losses and loss of life because the Cubans were unrelenting in their attack," said Malema.
He further commended the role Cubans played in providing medical personnel to developing nations. He said Castro was a world icon that should be celebrated by all. Malema added that his ideas would live forever and his passing would serve to strengthen their determination to continue fighting for socialism.
"The struggle of Cuban people is our struggle and we shall continue to fight side by side until we emerge victorious," he said.
Dr. Marsha Adebayo is the author of the Pulitzer Prize nominated: No FEAR: A Whistleblowers Triumph over Corruption and Retaliation at the EPA. She worked at the EPA for 18 years and blew the whistle on a US multinational corporation that endangered South African vanadium mine workers. Marsha's successful lawsuit led to the introduction and passage of the first civil rights and whistleblower law of the 21st century: the Notification of Federal Employees Anti-discrimination and Retaliation Act of 2002 (No FEAR Act). She is Director of Transparency and Accountability for the Green Shadow Cabinet and serves on the Advisory Board of ExposeFacts.com.
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