Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema says none of the Afrikaners who left South Africa for the United States last week under refugee status are farmers, but instead appeared to be "car guards”.
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema says none of the Afrikaners who left South Africa for the United States last week under refugee status are farmers, but instead appeared to be “car guards”.
Malema made the remarks while addressing scores of EFF supporters outside the Union Buildings on Monday ahead of a march to the treasury.
He said anyone who had ties with the 49 Afrikaners should provide their addresses so that their status as farmers could be verified.
“We don’t have a problem. People left voluntarily, we are just asking for the addresses of those farms that they left. We will make a plan for them. We cannot allow for land not to be used.
“If they are real farmers, why is the media not giving us the list of the farms that were left by farmers who went to America? Nothing looked like a farmer among those people. They looked like car guards.”
The extension of refugee status to Afrikaners was done by US president Donald Trump earlier this year. The policy has also been extended to other minorities in South Africa who could show “either a history of persecution or a credible fear of future persecution”.
Since his first term in office, Trump has maintained that Afrikaner farmers are being attacked because of their race. He has, on several occasions, referred to white farmers as being victims of “genocide”.
Farm killings remain an emotive topic in the country, which is riddled with excessive levels of violent crime.
In March, the constitutional court, South Africa’s apex court, refused AfriForum leave to appeal against a supreme court ruling that the song “kill the boer” does not constitute hate speech.
The song is often sung by Malema – who has made inflammatory remarks about white and Indian South Africans – at EFF gatherings.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to meet Trump on Wednesday where, among other things, the notion of “white genocide” and Afrikaner persecution are expected to be discussed.
Speaking to journalists on Saturday, Ramaphosa said there was no genocide in South Africa, a fact that was borne out by evidence.
He told the journalists that the two trading partners would be talking trade.
“Just as he [ Trump] meets with other people and I also meet with other people, it’s state to state [and] we’re representing our people. We are going to have good discussions on trade,” he said.
Speaking to his party supporters on Monday, Malema said Ramaphosa would be disrespected in the US.
“Those people know that there’s no white person being killed in South Africa, but they use it to make us change our policies.”
He said South Africans must reject the “propaganda”.
Should there have been murders of white people because of their race or because they were farmers, those pushing the narrative would have been the first to leave, he said.
“Why is [AfriForum chief executive Kallie] Kriel not going to America, because he is the one who claims that people are being killed? He must lead by example and go to America, [former AfriForum deputy chief executive Ernst] Roets must lead by example and go to America.”
“They can’t go because they live a very good life here. When they go to America, they are going to become hobos with immediate effect,” said Malema.