Pretoria - The EFF is adamant that their call for the amendment of the country’s constitution to allow for expropriation of land without compensation is inspired by the Black Consciousness teachings of Steve Biko.
EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi made the remarks on Wednesday as the nation and the Black Consciousness supporters and adherents marks the 41st anniversary of Biko’s death at Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Centre, formerly known as the Pretoria Central Prison, on September 12, 1977.
“On this day, in 1977, apartheid police killed the founder of the Black Consciousness Movement because they were afraid of his ideas.
“In remembering Biko, we have to remember his generation’s contribution to the cause of the liberation of black people in South Africa.
“We must remember the South African Student Organisation and how many of the Black Consciousness student activists of the time were expelled at universities for challenging the systems, some imprisoned and others exiled,” Ndlozi said.
He also said the 1976 Soweto uprising was itself a historic event caused by Biko and his generation, who not only inspired black pride in the South African black student community, but also directly mentored leaders of the Soweto uprising.
“Today, as we seek the amendment of the constitution to allow expropriation of land without compensation for equal redistribution, we do so inspired by the principles of his ideas, since land was disposed by colonial and apartheid systems from African people because they are black.
"Biko thus teaches us that to be black conscious is to refuse the usage of our skin colour as a means of our exclusion, discrimination and marginalization.
“To be black conscious is to be proud of our blackness, and one cannot be proud of being black and not fight against the conditions that make blacks into hated and despised people. One of these conditions is landlessness,” he said.
He said until black people attain land in this country, there were no grounds for black pride and dignity.
“It is therefore in memory of Biko that we must never retreat as a generation of Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) to demand the return of the land for all black people, in particular for native African populations,” he said.
Ndlozi said his party was calling on on all black people to continue to embrace Biko’s teachings and unite against anti-black racism.
“Black people must always stand together against any and all white supremacy anywhere it is found,” he emphasised.
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