Cape Town – Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has told property owners to help fund ongoing litigation aimed at fighting corruption. Malema addressed the SA Property Owners Association (Sapoa) conference in Cape Town.
"If the private sector is genuinely against corruption, it must play its own part and put its money so that we defeat this corruption...we call upon you to stand up and say enough is enough, not in our name. We will not allow South Africa to collapse under our watch...because we have a lot to lose," he told the delegates on Wednesday.
The EFF and other opposition parties were fighting a "well-oiled machine of corruption."
"You do not make a contribution to the EFF or other parties involved in litigation against corruption yet you claim to be fighting corruption. You fight corruption on Twitter, Facebook and air-conditioned offices... even when we call you to the picket lines you refuse to come, yet you are the ones who are going to lose a lot when the state collapses."
Malema started his address by telling delegates that South Africa was founded on "a crime against humanity," referring to colonialism and the apartheid regime.
"Those sitting here today are beneficiaries of a crime against humanity. You all feel under threat...with the current state of things, to survive you all do not have a choice but to bribe officials who increasingly do things like gangsters."
"We are aware that some of the corruption happens because of the participation by the private sector. Many of you do not even contribute when we are engaged in this fight against corruption... because you are scared that you will be exposed."
He added that investors should empower communities by investing in commercial properties, and that the owners should help the landless in the country, majority of whom are black and poor.
"I am talking about many of you who own pieces of land, which you do not use for anything, yet you cannot make the land available for the landless masses of our people. There is no ignoring the landless as you have all done since 1994."
He said the emergence of shopping malls in townships had eradicated black-owned small businesses who had to close shop in the face of fierce competition from multinational retailers. Malema urged property investors to consider local small scale retailers when they build shopping malls, and not only pay attention to big retailers.