Gigaba commended for appointing ‘pro-Black’ adviser

Black First Land First  (BLF) has commended Minister of Finance Melusi Gigaba for appointing Professor Chris Malikane as his adviser.

The group says Malikane, an economics professor from Wits University, has a “track record as an intellectual and academic working to answer the problems of oppression and exploitation of the black majority”.

The BLF slated the Sunday Times for allegedly being hostile to Malikane. This after the professor tabled a plan that called for, among other things, the nationalisation of mines and expropriation of land without compensation.

In a statement, the BLF called on the media to engage the professor’s “radical ideas” instead of demonising them.

Without backing up the allegation, they alleged that the Sunday Times was funded by billionaire businessman Johann Rupert in favour of “white monopoly capital”.

“Prof Malikane is a principled scholar and respected economist. His analysis is pro black and pro poor. His consistency since his student days as a warrior for black liberation marks him out as the kind of advisory to help the Minister move Treasury from the clutches of white monopoly capital.

“BLF notes the hostile media reports from the Johann Rupert-funded Sunday Times. The white-owned media has started a demonisation campaign against Prof Malikane instead of engaging his radical ideas with depth and seriousness. BLF considers the proposal penned by Prof Malikane a sound roadmap towards the much-needed radical economic transformation.

“We call upon all honest intellectuals and the uncaptured academics to engage with the proposal of Professor Malikane. On our part as a movement, BLF shall be hosting a public debate on the “Malikane proposals”.

The BLF further called on the minister to “resist the noise of white monopoly capital”, and “progressive intellectuals and academics” to help the minister leave behind the “corrupt legacy” of former Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and put “people before profits”.