Malema says ANC itself is suggesting ‘Zuma is dumb’

In an interview with the SABC on Friday, EFF leader Julius Malema said he was not at all shocked by President Jacob Zuma’s increasing calls for land expropriation without compensation, even though this was causing division in an already divided ANC.

“Zuma is trying to find some legacy for himself, but the ANC is a party in conflict with itself. The centre does not hold. It’s unheard of for a president to make a pronunciation [pronouncement] and for his party to go the opposite direction. Because in most cases what the president says becomes the order of the day.”

Malema referenced the fact that ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu had disputed that land expropriation without compensation was ANC policy.

ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa criticised ANC chief whip in parliament Jackson Mthembu for not following the ANC’s “policy” of supporting land expropriation without compensation.

Kodwa said this policy was adopted at the 2012 conference in Mangaung and ANC MPs should have supported the EFF’s motion to change section 25 of the constitution to allow for property rights to no longer be respected. However, it’s unclear where he got this idea.

Mthembu also said it was news to him that this was now official ANC policy. He said people would do better to challenge section 25 in court than to expect the ANC to amend the constitution.

The Sunday Times pointed out that the ANC had in 2012 only called for “expropriation without compensation of land acquired through unlawful means or used for illegal purposes, having due regard for section 25 of the constitution”.

President Jacob Zuma called for constitutional change on land, telling traditional leaders on Friday that “black political parties” should work together on the matter. Traditional leaders now want the “land back”.

Malema said in response: “When they are slaughtering each other like that, we don’t have to get involved, we must just sit on the side and watch the ANC biting itself.

“This can only mean the end of the ANC.”

He said the ruling party was itself suggesting that its president “was dumb” and that “he doesn’t know what are the real reasons why we can’t speed up the process of giving our people land back”.

He added that the ANC was going to die a painful death, but confirmed the 6% offer was permanently on the table for anyone who wants to restore the dignity of African people by expropriating the land and giving it “to our people”.

In response to another question Malema said Thabo Mbeki had not used his constitutional majority to change the constitution because he was a man who believed in “privatisation” and “neoliberal” economics.

He said he didn’t blame Nelson Mandela alone for “selling out” the country at the Codesa talks, and had sympathy for the difficult conditions during the transition.

“But what stops you now? Nothing. Conditions are in favour of the forces of change.”

He said “our forefathers” had wished for the land to be returned to the rightful owners.

Watch the full interview here.

ANC top brass at odds over land expropriation – report