BLF wants to unite with ‘all progressive black parties’, including EFF

Note, 17.55pm: The original headline of this article was changed due to the BLF clarifying that they do not want to oppose the ANC, they are primarily opposing white monopoly capital.

While Andile Mngxitama’s party, Black First Land First (BLF), have been known for harbouring animosity towards their more widely supported rivals, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the controversial organisation has released a statement calling for unity among black parties to “advance the revolution”.

According to the release, the ANC under current president Cyril Ramaphosa is not included in what the BLF refers to as “black parties”.

This is because the “ANC under Ramaphosa” are unashamed agents of white monopoly capital, according to the party.

“The ANC chooses to stand with Johann Rupert as he calls for black-on-black violence,” the release continues. The ANC yesterday slammed the BLF for divisive comments that it said hearkened back to the apartheid era.

Rupert recently made comments in his recent, controversial interview with Given Mkhari on Power FM about how, if the EFF came after him he would mobilise members of the taxi industry against the party.

“I also have my own army. Those red guys, they’ve got to go and remember the taxi association,” Rupert said in the interview.

When asked what BLF meant, though, when they said the ANC had chosen to “stand with” Rupert, BLF spokesperson Lindsay Maasdorp referred me to the press release in which the ANC condemned Mgnxitama’s controversial recent comments, made at a Potchefstroom rally, about killing white people.

READ MORE: Mngxitama says killing whites and their pets is a response to Johann Rupert

By condemning Mngxitama, the party believes, they are supporting Rupert.

“It follows that the ANC’s attack on BLF – and therefore landless people – aids Rupert”, Maasdorp said.

It seems the party wants “progressive” black parties to unite against white monopoly capital, which would include Ramaphosa’s ANC.

This would mean a truce between Mngxitama and Malema.

The former was an EFF member but was expelled from the party under acrimonious circumstances. The BLF has since slammed the party and recently laid corruption charges against Malema over the VBS Mutual Bank scandal.

The party has also accused Malema of “plagiarising” BLF ideas and policy, accusing him of first flip-flopping on issues then looking to the BLF “for direction on all major political decisions so to seem like they are self-correcting”.

The BLF has also consistently claimed that the EFF changed its “revolutionary” ways after their 2015 visit to London, where they had a meeting with Lord Robin Renwick.

The EFF’s decision to vote with the DA, which led to the ANC being ousted in key municipalities such as Johannesburg, Tshwane (where the EFF has since turned against the DA and their mayor Solly Msimanga) and Nelson Mandela Bay (where the EFF has since switched to side with the ANC, leading to the removal of DA mayor Atholl Trollip), led to the BLF coming up with the hashtag #EFFSoldOut.

EFF leader Julius Malema responded by calling BLF a “curry-first” movement, implying the BLF was being funded by the controversial Gupta family to delegitimise the EFF.

READ MORE: Stop copying us, Malema – BLF

Despite all that’s transpired, though, the party believes reconciliation is possible.

“There is nothing stopping EFF leader Julius Malema from approaching [former] president Jacob Zuma to ask for forgiveness. The same applies between BLF president Mngxitama and Malema,” the press release says.

Their statement says the EFF came to the BLF’s defence over their position on Ramaphosa’s ANC, and they also noted the fact that the National Freedom Party (NFP) expressed solidarity with Mngxitama amid the backlash against his comments.

EFF spokesperson Dr Mbuyiseni Ndlozi did tweet in an apparent sidewise defence of Mngxitama, saying it was ironic that the ANC had released a statement condemning Mngxitama as divisive when they “are the biggest divider of our country”, he prefaced his comment by saying he doesn’t “take Andile seriously”.

I don’t take Andile seriously… but come on, the biggest divider of our country is the ruling party which has made sure to keep black people at the bottom, on their knees, in service of WHITE PRIVILEGE everywhere

Any unity that doesn’t have economic freedom for black. is EVIL! https://t.co/j79ndaNh5J

— Mbuyiseni Ndlozi (@MbuyiseniNdlozi) December 12, 2018

BLF wants an “all-black political parties imbizo before the 2019 elections”.

“The black majority desire black unity to advance the revolution to end suffering. The enemy is united but black people are divided,” the statement says.

The release also clarifies that unity does not mean the various black parties can’t criticise each other anymore.

“Unity doesn’t mean stopping the necessary critique of each other, it simply means working towards something much bigger and much more important,” the statement says.

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