“We will take our land no matter how. It’s becoming unavoidable, it’s becoming inevitable,” said Malema.

He said land would be taken and returned to black people by whatever means necessary.

Malema was addressing thousands of supporters outside the Newcastle Magistrate’s Court on Monday. Minutes before that, he had been in the dock on charges of contravening the Riotous Assemblies Act for making similar remarks on June 26 at a Freedom Charter rally in the area.

Outside the court, he blamed the African National Congress government for going after him because he dared to disturb the comfort of the white minority in the country.

“They have been swimming in a pool of privilege; they have been enjoying themselves because they always owned our land. We’re the rightful owners, our peace was disturbed by the white man’s arrival here.”

Black servants

He accused white people in the country of committing black genocide, saying they had slaughtered Africans as if they were animals.

“We are not calling for the slaughtering of white people… at least for now,” he said, adding that all black people wanted was their land back.

He accused the ANC government of protecting white privilege and pursuing him using an apartheid-era law.

The EFF leader, who told the crowd that the gains made in 1994 meant nothing without land ownership for black people, said black people remained servants to their white counterparts in South Africa.

Malema spoke at length about the Constitution and President Jacob Zuma and told supporters that he was willing to lose his job, go to jail, or even be tortured over the land question.

“If it means going to prison for telling you to take the land, so be it. I am not scared of going to prison because of the land question, but I am scared of going to prison for corruption.”

Zuma a ‘by the way’

He also warned against the continued white ownership of the economy, and had a word of advice for “white people” who supported his attacks on the president, saying Zuma was not the main issue.

“Zuma is a ‘by the way’, so white people, before you clap hands for the EFF, you must think twice. It’s like when you travel in a car and you get a puncture, you fix the tyre, but the journey continues.”

He said the end goal was the defeat of white monopoly capital.

Malema first made the call for the illegal occupation of land at the EFF’s national people’s assembly in 2014.

He will appear in the regional court in Mangaung on November 14 for a similar charge.

The court case in Newcastle was postponed to December 7 pending an application that his lawyer, Tumi Mokwena, said they would put to the High Court, challenging the Act’s constitutionality.

Magistrate Ian Colditz said if he showed proof of the application, the matter would then be moved to May 2017. DM

Source: News24

Photo: Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema addressing the crowd in Church Square in Pretoria city centre, South Africa, 02 November 2016. (EPA)