By Julius Malema
It began with blood on the Koppie of Marikana, thousands of workers were demanding a living wage of R12 500, for the labour of digging up minerals in the Platinum belt to create millionaires. Those demands ended in blood, 34 mineworkers were murdered in defence of the profits of the mining cartel of South Africa, and multinational capitalists.
Our democracy began to accept that the former liberation movement has abandoned the liberation Struggle and is willing to kill in defence of white monopoly capital. As this happened, a generation, which adopted the Economic Emancipation struggle, was expelled from the ruling party, for the ideas of land expropriation without compensation and nationalisation.
Nine years later it is proven true that an idea which is true to the people, cannot die. The EFF has emerged as the only hope for the destitute, the forgotten and dispossessed masses of our people, from these fateful moments in history.
As a generation we reaffirmed our commitment to African people in the continent and the diaspora. We are a generation which draws inspiration from the slave rebellion of Haiti, which saw the first black independent state the world has ever seen.
We are a generation of gallant wars against colonial dispossession, and we carry the baton from great Pan-Africanists such as Kwame Nkrumah, Ahmed Ben Bella, Amilcar Carbral, Frantz Fanon and Robert Sobukwe.
As a Marxist, Leninist and Fanonian organisation, a force of the left inspired by the Cuban revolution of Commandante Fidel Castro, the EFF’s existence has been defined by sacrifice. It has been defined by a battle for the land, the means of production and against all forms of exploitation.
The EFF marked its ninth anniversary in Mangaung, what today can be correctly known as the City of Sewage. This was significant because it was there in the Free State, where the EFF held its first National People’s Assembly in 2014, marking a fundamental shift in the political arena in Africa.
It was a celebration that began by a closer assessment of the inhumane conditions our people live in, in the Free State. This is because the EFF celebrations are not characterised by flashy cars and the abuse of young women, like other political parties.
The growth of the EFF is marked by listening to the people and reviving our consciousness, by interacting with their struggles. This is how a socialist organisation which belongs to the people, celebrates its existence.
The people of the Free State spoke to the EFF, and relayed their challenges of sewage, lack of roads and housing. Our people in Caleb Motshabi told us of how service delivery is dependent on political allegiance, and how their children play in filth and waste.
A lot is needed to ensure that our people are rescued from living in an open sewer, as we saw in the Free State. The removal of the ruling party and so-called former liberation movement, is the first step.
The people of the Free State have shown that they are ready to disabuse themselves from the inhumanity the ruling party subjects them to. In the entire Free State, the EFF gained an additional 25 councillors as compared with 2016 Local Government Elections, and this should serve as an inspiration to fight a much more concerted battle to remove the ruling party from office.
It is a testament to the meaningful existence of the EFF, that it is the only organisation that has exhibited an upward electoral trajectory in all elections since its inception.
We have waged many battles and secured many victories. It is the EFF that has led and supported land occupation programmes which resulted in residential land being given to many landless people across all the provinces.
Since 2014, the EFF is the only party that has a higher gender balance in Parliament, in the provincial legislature and in municipal councils.
Since the year 2014, the EFF has made politics fashionable and worthy, and made Parliament vibrant.
Since 2015, the EFF has gained credibility at institutions of higher learning by constantly winning SRC elections, and building viable student branches. Where the EFF leads the SRC, poor students were provided with free sanitary towels, and at least one meal a day.
The emergence of the EFF has seen workers insourced, with increased remuneration, in institutions of higher learning and the Nelson Mandela Bay, Johannesburg and Tshwane metropoles.
The Gender-Based Violence Desk of the EFF has been at the forefront of defending women and providing meaningful interventions such as fighting for women who were forcefully sterilised due to their HIV status.
The EFF Labour Desk has been a shield for workers, protecting them from unfair dismissals, racism and exploitation.
Critically, the anti-black racism, which has seen our people being undermined and disrespected in the land of their birth, has found a fierce enemy in the form of the EFF.
From the racist enclaves of Senekal to the corporate corridors of Clicks and H&M, to the doorsteps of the United States Embassy, the EFF has stood alone as a defender of the dignity of black people who are hated all over the world, because of the colour of our skin.
It is one of our greatest victories, that we have instilled pride, fearlessness and courage in the hearts of our people, against white supremacists and racists. Our people know not to be afraid of any white man, because the EFF has shown them that they are not superior beings.
The red flag of Economic Freedom, sends shivers down the spine of racists, because they know they will be dealt with decisively if they undermine African people.
Despite all this however, our challenges remain many and in some instances heartbreaking.
In terms of Gender-Based Violence, sexual offences have gone up by 21% between January and March 2022, and this is in the Free State alone, where we marked our anniversary.
We are shaken, broken and defeated, by the barbaric behaviour of the group of men who gang raped 8 women while they were shooting a music video in Krugersdorp, Gauteng. These women were subjected to inhumane trauma, when these men took turns in raping the 8 women, inflicting permanent physical and emotional scars on women.
What happened to these women in Krugersdorp, is a national tragedy. This country should be in a national mourning, because the men who did this, have committed murder. They have murdered the spirit of these women, and stripped them of their sense of safety. Those women will not know peace, because of the abuse they have suffered.
Our people remain hated and discriminated against in their own land, while capital consolidates itself and South Africa as a colonial outpost.
State-Owned Enterprises are being collapsed, in order to auction them off to the handlers of the black political elite. South Africa is a nation in darkness due to the deliberate attempt to kill Eskom by Cyril Ramaphosa and Pravin Gordhan.
As things stand, South Africa is led by a captured, criminal syndicate known as the ANC, and at the helm of that syndicate, and sadly our state, is a gangster known as Cyril Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa is on a path to leave future generations of this country with nothing to inherit, as he surrenders our sovereignty and assets to imperialists and private capital. Added upon that, the President of South Africa is a money launderer, kidnapper and torturer, making him a role model for violent criminals, because he is not facing consequences for his crimes.
As the EFF turns nine years old, it is one of our foremost tasks to ensure that Ramaphosa is removed from office. It is the foremost task of the EFF to usher the so-called former liberation movement to its death bed, which is inevitable as all liberation movements begin their paths to the grave 30-years after independence.
Our journey towards 10 years of fighting for economic liberation must be characterised by a re-commitment to our allegiances with progressive and anti-imperialist nations such as China, Russia and Cuba. We must through meaningful solidarity and resistance to the agenda of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato), exhibit that those leading South Africa today towards re-colonisation, do not represent us.
The EFF must remain a shield for women in society, and fight bitterly for legislation that promotes women receiving equal treatment in the workplace and create a justice system that those who suffer abuse can have faith and pride in.
It is the EFF that must lead the agenda of economic freedom in the continent, from the South, and this will require meaningful ties being built with allies and preaching the message of African unity tirelessly.
The task of proving those who predicted the doom of the EFF wrong, is complete. We must now intensify our efforts of seizing political power, and ushering in a socialist government that will give Africa a human face.
To achieve all of these objectives, we must build a strong vanguard party, that is both qualitatively and quantitatively superior to the forces of racism and neo-colonialism. That is the purpose of the 1 Million Membership Campaign, to build an army for the quest of economic liberation and the defeat of white supremacy and imperialism.
Let us build this movement of the people, let us strengthen our resolve to return the land to the indigenous people of Africa. Let us make Africa a competitor in the world, a force to be respected and an equal player.
The EFF is tasked with instilling pride in the souls of black people, as we mark our ninth anniversary, we dare not fail!
Let us do it for our ancestors whose blood which fell in defence of our land, continues to give colour to the soil beneath our feet.
Hasta La Victoria Siempre, Happy Birthday EFF!
*Julius Malema is the Commander in Chief and President of the Economic Freedom Fighters