The EFF will be widely courted but says it can’t betray its voters.
In a rare show of solidarity, ANC supporters mingled with Economic Freedom Fighters outside the Newcastle Magistrate’s Court on Monday where EFF leader Julius Malema appeared on two charges of contravening the Riotous Assembly Act of 1956 after he allegedly encouraged his supporters to occupy land.
Malema’s lawyers asked that the case be postponed because the EFF was filing an application with the high court asking that the Riotous Assembly Act be declared unconstitutional. The magistrate postponed the case to December 7, saying that Malema’s legal team must file their application before then.
The EFF’s national spokesperson, Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, said: “This law, which is essentially an apartheid law that was not transformed by the government of the ANC, was historically used in the 1960s to put many liberation fighters behind bars, including the accused of the Rivonia Trial.”
The charges relate to two incidents: in 2014, at the EFF’s elective conference in Bloemfontein, he allegedly incited supporters to occupy land, and earlier this year he allegedly encouraged land grabs in the Newcastle area.
ANC and EFF supporters said they were at the court to show solidarity with Malema and to demand that land is returned to poor black South Africans.
Addressing supporters later on Monday, Malema told supporters that land belonged to black people who lost it as a result of colonialism and apartheid.