Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) Malema says he will fight for Africans

COMMENT - I support Julius Malema and his support for land reform. But the truth is that there was very little violence involved, given the scale of the program. Land was redistributed from 4,000 farmers to over 320,000 families and farmers, and a total of 12 white farmers died over several years, most of those in drunken altercations. Compare that to not redistributing land like in South Africa, and you have 3,200 farm murders. The perception of Zimbabwe as violent, and the perception of South Africa as ready to host the world cup, is entirely created by the media, with the BBC leading the propaganda charge - which is why they were banned from Zimbabwe in the first place.

Malema says he will fight for Africans
By: Itayi Garande
Posted: Tuesday, May 25, 2010 7:55 am

THE President of the African National Congress Youth League says he will continue fighting for the emancipation of the black people in Africa and will not be discouraged by imperialist media that tries to divide black people on the continent.

Julius Malema kicked out a BBC journalist, Mark Fisher, from the ANC headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa after he rudely interrupted him as he gave a media briefing of a youth league trip to Zimbabwe. An ANC youth league delegation visited Zimbabwe in April this year where they met with their Zanu-PF counterparts and held rallies around the country.

Fisher interjected several times as Malema narrated how the ANC had liberation ties with Zanu-PF and nothing to do with the British and American-sponsored MDC-T party led by Mr Morgan Tsvangirai.

Malema called Fisher a "bastard" and "an agent", kicking him out of a press conference at Luthuli House in Johannesburg, the ANC headquarters.

In a BBC interview on Monday, Malema defended his decision to kick Fisher out, and said he respected the measures taken against him by the ANC in response to the incident.

Malema said he felt let down by those he had relied on and said he had "learnt something" from the incident but would never make any apologies about standing for his own people and fighting for the redistribution of the means of production in Africa.

He defended Zimbabwe's land reform programme, but said violence should never be used in the process of land redistribution.

"One of the things I have learnt is never rely on any individual who is in politics," he told the BBC correspondent.

"In Zimbabwe they took land from 4,000 whites and redistributed it to 400,000 people. That is a good thing, but we do not support taking land using violence. "

Asked if he felt betrayed by SA President Jacob Zuma, he stressed his loyalty, adding that Mr Zuma "whipped the youth into line" whenever he saw "anything wrong".

Malema dismissed the BBC and Britain's purported knowledge of Nelson Mandela, who spent three decades fighting against apartheid and white supremacy in South Africa.

"You know nothing about Nelson Mandela," he said. "We will tell you about Mandela, not the other way round. You can't tell us anything about that man and his struggle to free black people in South Africa.

"Nothing has changed. We are just continuing with the vibrancy of the ANC party."

When the BBC reporter said Malema was facing criticism from sections of the country, he responded: "Is everybody supporting Zuma? Is everybody supporting Helen Zille (of the right wing Democratic Alliance party), the beautiful queen of yours? No!"

He responded saying that the BBC represented the wishes of the imperialists (Britain and western powers) and could not be expected to work for the good of the downtrodden blacks in Africa.

"You represent imperialists, Britain, the country that got us into the mess that we are in, in the first place."

The BBC reporter responded saying that "President Zuma says we should stop blaming apartheid". Malema dismissed this notion: "No, it doesn't mean that the apartheid legacy doesn't exist. The apartheid legacy still exists."

He added: "There are racial divisions in this country (South Africa). If you say you are not going to change the property relations and structure in this country, they will remain the same as during apartheid and that's unacceptable," added Malema.

The 29-year-old firebrand youth leader also said he will not stop singing the the revolutionary "Dubula ibhunu" song" . He said whites in South Africa had crudely translated it into meaning "Kill the Boer" in order to challenge its existence.

Malema added that South Africa's economy remained racially divided and that socio-economic and political relations in that country are "racialised".

"I am fighting for the emancipation of blacks and Africans in particular, politically, socially and economically," he said.

"There are racial divisions in this country and the economy continues to grow but the gap between the haves and have-nots continues to grow. It's racialised."

He said President Mugabe and Zanu-PF's land reform policy was "very good" as it sought to redress the imbalance created by colonialism.

"In South Africa we must use the democratic means to redistribute the land. "We've got a majority in parliament to make legislation that will give us power to expropriate land with compensation.

Labels: BBC, JULIUS MALEMA, LAND REFORM, PROPAGANDA

posted by MrK @ 3:45 PM