Making a record in the history of South Africa, the EFF movement led by Julius Malema, considered the third political force in the country, having more than a hundred thousand members and convening them in an indoor stadium, has held its party conference in Johannesburg.
The conference was held on freedom, democracy, land nationalization, free education and health care for all, pan-Africanism and opposition to imperialism. The conference was held on July 29, the tenth anniversary of the party’s establishment, with the participation of one hundred thousand members.
Addressing his party members at this conference, Julius Malema said, “Though we have fought for our freedom for a long time, our people are still suffering from extreme helplessness and poverty. However, today, ten years since the birth of our party (EFF, Economic Freedom Fighters), the people have a spark of hope. We still have a long way to go to win all human rights, including housing, free education and health care, land rights, and economic liberation. 2024 is the year of expectation to achieve these goals. We must be determined to carry out an unceasing struggle to win the elections scheduled for 2024.” This he said amid the unceasing applause of his party members. 42-year-old Julius Malema, nicknamed Juju, is the former African National Congress (ANC) Youth League leader, Nelson Mandela’s party that fought South Africa’s apartheid government for 27 years. On August 16, 2012, Julius Malema resigned from the ruling African Congress Party and formed the new EFF after police opened fire on a striking graphite mine in the village of Marikana, South Africa, killing 34 workers.
The New Party is considered a Marxist-Leninist party and fights against corruption, privatization, colonialism, and neoliberalism. The party hopes to nationalize land and graphite mines to solve the still unresolved land issue in South Africa. The EFF party obtained a percentage of 10.79% in the 2019 parliamentary elections and is represented by 44 MPs in the parliament.
Although 27 years have passed since the end of apartheid in South Africa, 73% of the land ownership in the country is still in the hands of white people. Meanwhile, the African National Congress (ANC) that came to power to end this inequality or the black leaders who came to power since Nelson Mandela did not make any attempt to solve this land issue, which was considered an unjust symbol of apartheid rule. Instead, those leaders became the perpetrators and protectors of the existing system. On July 9, 2021, the former President (ANC) Jacob Zuma had to be imprisoned due to bribery.
Since 2018, South Africa has faced a severe economic recession and economic growth in 2021 is 4.9% and 2% in 2022. Due to the corona epidemic, the country has fallen into a severe economic crisis due to the collapse of 9 of the ten primary economic centres, including industrial, graphite, and agriculture. The budget deficit is stated at 13% of GDP, and debt is shown at 80%GDP, and it has increased by 20% in just one year (2020-2021). Unemployment is shown as 32.6%. Especially compared to 10% of white people, 80% of black people live in extreme poverty under difficult conditions.
Even the European liberal media points out that the land crisis, which is the most serious issue in the country and has not been resolved, intensifies the crisis further. Aiming to solve this initial land crisis, the current President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, appointed a parliamentary commission in 2018 to change Article 25 of the country’s constitution, which has existed since the apartheid era, and to remove the legal obstacles needed to nationalize all land without any compensation. Nevertheless, due to the opposition of the minority whites, the amendment has been postponed until 2025.
As a result, the majority of the black people, who were frustrated, in addition to strikes and demonstrations against the government, rebelled in the past. Especially in July 2021, 72 people died due to police firing and stampedes, and 1234 people were arrested after protestors blocked roads and carried out attacks targeting shops, banks and insurance companies.
It is said that the majority of black people in South Africa are gathering around the new party of young Julius Malema due to the failure of the African Congress administration to solve pressing issues such as the land crisis. In his speech, Julius Malema also mentioned the Russian President’s absence from the BRICS summit to be organized by South Africa’s ruling party on August 22-24:
He said, “We want to inform President Putin that we South Africans are not rejecting his presence. The only South African against it is President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is a coward and a pro-imperialist. The foreign media reported that as he said this, the representatives who were gathered shouted slogans, “Putin to us! We are for Putin”.
At the end of his speech, he said, amidst the cheers and revolutionary slogans of the members of the conference, that he strongly requested the Kremlin regime to lead the new international anti-imperialist camp that is currently being built in the entire African continent and the world.
