Thousands of Economic Freedom Fighters protested outside the Johannesburg Stock Exchange yesterday in a massive show of strength ahead of municipal elections next year.
The EFF, led by firebrand Julius Malema, is looking to use the momentum built from student demonstrations last week to increase its pressure on the ANC.
Malema, a former ANC Youth League leader, says the ruling party under President Jacob Zuma has allowed a black political elite to enrich themselves while most of the country’s wealth remained in the hands of a white minority, 20 years after the end of apartheid.
“Down with capitalism! Down with the racist JSE (Johannesburg stock exchange)” Malema told cheering supporters dressed in red party T-shirts and waving “capitalism sucks” banners.
“You bloody racists. It is the ANC who has spoiled you. Your days are numbered,” Malema shouted at a group of white businessmen standing on a balcony outside the JSE.
Only around 10% of the JSE is owned by black South Africans, a statistic Malema cited as a prime example of the ANC’s failure to redistribute wealth concentrated in white hands during apartheid.
The EFF handed a list of demands to the JSE’s CEO, Nicky Newton-King, including that all listed companies be owned 51% by workers and that a national minimum wage of R4500 be implemented immediately.
“Comrade Malema, thanks for making the effort to come. South Africa has taken notice,” Newton-King said to jeers from the crowd.
Yesterday’s EFF march, which also stopped at the South African Reserve Bank and Chamber of Mines, was the latest sign of anti-government dissent as South Africans vent frustration at high unemployment, stretched public services and political corruption.
Malema, whose anti-Western rhetoric has growing appeal among poor voters, has pledged to nationalise South Africa’s mines and land, raising fears of the kind of seizures of white-owned farms undertaken by Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe.
The EFF won 6% of the vote at the national election last year, gaining 25 seats out of 400 in parliament, while the ANC claimed 62%, down from 66% in 2009.
Malema is seeking to expand the EFF’s support at municipal elections next year where the ANC will be in a tight race with the main opposition DA in important urban areas, including the economic hub Johannesburg.
Protests by students across South Africa pressured Zuma into scrapping plans to increase university fees next year, in what was seen as a symbolic victory for the post-apartheid “Born Free” generation. — Reuters
Malema marches on SA’s ‘white wealth’
The EFF, led by firebrand Julius Malema, is looking to use the momentum built from student demonstrations last week to increase its pressure on the ANC.
Malema, a former ANC Youth League leader, says the ruling party under President Jacob Zuma has allowed a black political elite to enrich themselves while most of the country’s wealth remained in the hands of a white minority, 20 years after the end of apartheid.
“Down with capitalism! Down with the racist JSE (Johannesburg stock exchange)” Malema told cheering supporters dressed in red party T-shirts and waving “capitalism sucks” banners.
“You bloody racists. It is the ANC who has spoiled you. Your days are numbered,” Malema shouted at a group of white businessmen standing on a balcony outside the JSE.
Only around 10% of the JSE is owned by black South Africans, a statistic Malema cited as a prime example of the ANC’s failure to redistribute wealth concentrated in white hands during apartheid.
The EFF handed a list of demands to the JSE’s CEO, Nicky Newton-King, including that all listed companies be owned 51% by workers and that a national minimum wage of R4500 be implemented immediately.
“Comrade Malema, thanks for making the effort to come. South Africa has taken notice,” Newton-King said to jeers from the crowd.
Yesterday’s EFF march, which also stopped at the South African Reserve Bank and Chamber of Mines, was the latest sign of anti-government dissent as South Africans vent frustration at high unemployment, stretched public services and political corruption.
Malema, whose anti-Western rhetoric has growing appeal among poor voters, has pledged to nationalise South Africa’s mines and land, raising fears of the kind of seizures of white-owned farms undertaken by Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe.
The EFF won 6% of the vote at the national election last year, gaining 25 seats out of 400 in parliament, while the ANC claimed 62%, down from 66% in 2009.
Malema is seeking to expand the EFF’s support at municipal elections next year where the ANC will be in a tight race with the main opposition DA in important urban areas, including the economic hub Johannesburg.
Protests by students across South Africa pressured Zuma into scrapping plans to increase university fees next year, in what was seen as a symbolic victory for the post-apartheid “Born Free” generation. — Reuters
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos