Johannesburg - Deeply concerned and hurt by the surge in sexual and physical violence directed at women and children by men, the leader of the EFF, Julius Malema, has urged men to come up with a solution to this scourge.
In his New Year’s Eve message delivered late on Tuesday, Malema kicked off by taking a veiled dig at his party opponents, saying that according to them, his party should have been wiped off the country’s political map. He said far from the doomsayers’ predictions, it survived and even increased its presence in the National Assembly and the country’s nine provincial legislatures.
For that, he profusely thanked the voters for their “support and eternal encouragement”, and said 2019 was indeed the year of the EFF.
Despite the unexpected, massive political gains for his party, Malema said 2019 was a very bad year for women and children as it showed that the country waged a war against them.
He said since the evil force behind this violence was men, they had to come up with a solution to it - and the year to do so was 2020.
“As a country, 2019 also showed us that we are a country in a war with itself, particularly against the women, the girl child and all the vulnerables. We must make sure that indeed in 2020 we find a solution against women abuse and child abuse, because this solution must come from men.
“It is a problem that is created by men and it is a problem that can be resolved by men. Men should find a practical, long-lasting solution to women and child abuse in 2020,” Malema pleaded in the video-taped message.
Furthermore, he said the year 2020 should be the year of the woman, the girl child and the year where rape incidents were drastically reduced.
“Let it be the year we reduce rape, femicide and all violence against women.”
In an apparent reference to calls to privatise state-owned companies like SAA and other struggling state-owned enterprises like Eskom (which was scheduled to be unbundled into three separate entities), Malema said people should stand together to oppose such calls and moves.
“Let 2020 also be the year of the unity of the oppressed. In solidarity, we should stand against privatisation, against unemployment, against landlessness. We must ensure that we fight against the capture of our state by white monopoly. South Africa’s only hope lies in the unity of the left and the oppressed masses of our people,” the EFF leader said.