SOUTH AFRICA, Klerksdorp – South Africa’s opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has chided his compatriots for fighting Zimbabweans they accuse of stealing their jobs while sparing white business owners who remain in control of the means to wealth creation.
Malema was addressing party delegates to an EFF provincial people’s assembly in Klerksdorp, South Africa Sunday.
South Africa, which shares a border with Zimbabwe, is home to an estimated one million Zimbabweans who have crossed the Limpopo in the past three decades to find employment opportunities in the neighbouring country.
However, the giant migrant population dominated by Zimbabweans has angered a lot of South Africans who feel employers now prefer to hire desperate foreigners who do not demand a lot in terms of wages.
Malema, a pan-Africanist and fierce proponent of black empowerment in an economy dominated by whites, insists fighting fellow black Africans in South Africa was misplaced.
“Today you are fighting with Zimbabweans. You are all fighting to be Negros. You are fighting to work for a white man. You are not fighting for the land,” said the opposition leader.
“All of you, you joined forces together against Zimbabweans. What’s wrong; ‘no they are taking our jobs’. Why, because you want to be workers.
“You don’t want to be the owners of strategic sectors of the economy. All you are fighting for is jobs.
“Who is going to give you these jobs? It’s a white man. You are now fighting to work for a white man and you are proud to work for a white man.”
Malema said South Africans should turn their energies towards fighting to own land.
“Why should you fight people for jobs? You should fight people for our land…because with our land, we will not be workers. We will be the owners of the land and we will produce for ourselves and for all.
“We are not fighting for the mines. We have never said Zimbabweans are all over here, they are owning the banks. We South Africans are not owning the banks. No one is saying that.”
Malema also scorned Operation Dudula, a pro-South African movement campaigning against lack of jobs and poor health services caused by an “influx of illegal immigrants”.
“Oh, Dudula, Dudula what’s wrong, ‘they are taking our jobs’. And you think you have made a very powerful political statement by saying they are taking jobs. Who owns the jobs? It’s a white man.”
The opposition leader said his EFF has anchored its struggle towards black ownership of the strategic means of sustainable wealth.