White racists’ pursuits are not about the law, says EFF after Malema charges

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) say attempts by Afrikaner-interest group AfriForum to prosecute its commander-in-chief are nothing more than a deflection.

This is after the head of AfriForum’s prosecuting unit, Advocate Gerrie Nel, announced on Thursday morning that they sent a letter to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to reinstate charges against EFF leader Julius Malema.

The charges of corruption were laid against Malemas’ family trust, On-Point Engineering in Limpopo.

The matter was, however, struck off the roll in August 2015 by the NPA.

The EFF said AfriForum’s pursuit was not about the law, but an attempt to “deflect the attention of the EFF from economic emancipation struggles, in particular, land expropriation without compensation”.

“It is not a secret that the EFF is at the forefront of the struggle for land expropriation without compensation and that AfriForum is one of its right-wing opponents. Instead of engaging in a democratic debate and engagement on the land question, AfriForum does what their colonial and apartheid forefathers did to freedom fighters, which is criminal persecution and prosecutions for political reasons,” said the EFF in a statement.

The EFF said they were fully behind Malema, and were not deterred from “the formations of white people whose primary purpose” is to protect white privilege and supremacy.

The party called for calm from its supporters, and said “right-wing forces will always try to deflect” their attention.