Vanderbijlpark - There will be no true reconciliation in the country as long as whites have the land, Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema said on Tuesday.
“You (whites) are more than welcome. This is your country, no one should make you (feel) threatened, but you will be unsettled if you are not ready to heed the call,” he told students at the Vaal University of Technology (VUT) in Vanderbijlpark.
“Let's share the land; let's share the minerals.”
Wearing a yellow, buttoned shirt and dark sunglasses, Malema stood on the back of a bakkie in the parking lot of the VUT's main residence on Tuesday.
The students were dressed in red T-shirts and red berets. Some shielded themselves from the sun with umbrellas while others sat under trees.
Malema referred to the land owned by white people as “stolen property”. He said it might have been land which they inherited, but that their grandfathers had killed black men for that land.
“We not going to commit white genocide,” he said.
“You are suffering from a generational curse, because of the people who came before you. To get rid of the curse you must give back the land. You are in possession of stolen property.”
Malema said the EFF was not a racist organisation, but was an honest organisation.
“White South Africans should love EFF, because we 1/8are 3/8 the only organisation that tells them the truth,” he said.
“If white people want a permanent honeymoon, they must deliver the stolen property,” he said.
Malema was referring to reports that some EFF members had displayed placards with racist messages at its launch in Marikana
at the weekend.
According to Gauteng EFF spokesman Patrick Sindane, the messages read: “Honeymoon is over for whites” and “To be a revolutionary you have to be inspired by hatred and bloodshed”.
He said the party was disappointed in those members.
Malema said there needed to be “genuine” reconciliation in the country.
“These people, the black masses are hurting.... The more you become more rejecting to the idea of sharing the land, you will have an unled revolution, and that is anarchy. We don't need anarchy. Let us talk about a genuine reconciliation,” he said.
“The future is going to be very bright if you decide to share with us.”
Just before Malema arrived at the gathering, students sang songs ridiculing President Jacob Zuma and made gestures mocking the way he pushes his glasses up his nose.
Sapa