ANC Youth League president Julius Malema added further fuel to the fire of the war raging between the league and ruling party on Sunday.
Addressing a small crowd at a mini-rally in Kliptown, Soweto as part of the league’s commemoration of the ANC’s centenary, Malema called on supporters to continue the fight.
“We as soldiers must die with our boots on. We must never give up — we must never surrender,” Malema said.
He once again reiterated the league’s stance that it would ignore any suspensions the ANC handed down to him or his fellow leaders in the league, as such sentences would amount to political persecution.
“We want to die in the ANC. We want nothing other than the ANC. Why does the ANC now reject its children? Even if you do a DNA test, it will show we are the children of the ANC. Our blood is black, green and gold,” Malema said.
History of suspense
The controversial youth leader’s statements are the latest in the ongoing battle between the youth league and the ruling party after Malema and several other leaders were suspended by the ANC’s national disciplinary committee (NDC) in November after being found guilty of sowing division within the ANC.
“Even if we are mad, the leaders of the ANC should listen to our madness. We and our families are being tortured by those calling themselves comrades — I thought it was only the boers that did that,” Malema said on Sunday.
Malema did offer an olive branch of sorts, as he said the youth league is seeking a meeting with the ANC in an attempt to resolve the impasse.
“We are asking for a meeting to resolve our problems with the ANC, the problems can be resolved. We will continue writing to them but we do not ask for any favours,” Malema said.
These latest comments come barely a week after President Jacob Zuma admonished the league for trying to pass off ill discipline as militancy.
“The energy and innovation of the youth are vital to the ANC, but if you think you are right, pursue the argument correctly within the proper structures,” Zuma told the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa‘s political commission in Johannesburg last week.
Land reform
In his address on Sunday, Malema was candid about the league’s intentions to continue with its drive for economic freedom, calling again for the nationalisation of mines and the expropriation of land without compensation.
In an open attack against the government’s approach to land reform, Malema said the league would fight to have the land stolen from the black majority returned to its rightful owners.
“The right wingers are gaining confidence because they know the radical voice in the ANC has been banned. If the leaders of this revolution are not prepared to fight for this land, the economic freedom fighters will,” Malema said.
Malema was referring to controversial statements made by FF+ leader Pieter Mulder in Parliament two weeks ago in which he said “bantu-speaking” black South Africans do not have a legitimate claim to much of the country’s land.
In his reply to the state of the nation debate, Zuma rebuked Mulder but stopped well short of axing him as the deputy minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries.
Land ownership is a thorny issue in South African politics, with the government claiming that up to 87% of South Africa’s agricultural land is still in the hands of white farmers.
The government has failed in its original plan to have 30% of disputed arable land diverted back to the black majority by 1999.
There are plans to speed up land reform, with a green paper on the issue being formed by the department of rural development and land reform to address outstanding issues.
The details contained in the green paper are unclear at this stage, and apart from Zuma saying the willing buyer, willing seller system is “not working” in his state of the nation address, the government has remained mum on their exact mode of action.