In a recent interview with local dailies, the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Julius Malema vehemently denied claims of widespread violence towards the white farmers who are majorly the Afrikaners.
Malema termed the reports as “fiction” and “drama” as he also took a direct jab at the recent move by the United States to resettle 49 Afrikaners, refuting the stories as fake, calling them part of a larger media fabrication.
“There’s no one who has been killed here in South Africa. It’s not true,” Malema declared. “There are no 49 Afrikaners who have left South Africa. You all know that it’s fiction, it’s drama. America, when it comes to drama, is number one.”
President Donald Trump had initially told reporters that he’s admitting them as refugees because of the “genocide that’s taking place.” He said that in post-apartheid South Africa, white farmers are “being killed,” and he plans to address the issue with South African leadership next week.
That characterization has been strongly disputed by South Africa’s government, experts and even the Afrikaner group AfriForum, which says farm attacks are not being taken seriously by the government.
South Africa’s government says the U.S. allegations that the white minority Afrikaners are being persecuted are “completely false,” the result of misinformation and an inaccurate view of the country. It cited the fact that Afrikaners are among the richest and most successful people in the country.
Malema, on the other hand, denied media reports that the farmers were being attacked and if indeed they had moved to the United States, their land should be expropriated.
“If those people were farmers, it would mean there are 49 farms available,” Malema argued. “Why are we not expropriating them because they have abandoned them? But why is the media not telling us this? Why doesn’t the media, through its own investigation, tell us who the real farmers are?”
The EFF leader further called upon the International bodies including the United States warning them against using land issues to silence South Africans who are advocating for justice and equality.
“If those people were farmers, it would mean there are 49 farms available,” Malema argued. “Why are we not expropriating them because they have abandoned them? But why is the media not telling us this? Why doesn’t the media, through its own investigation, tell us who the real farmers are?”
The firebrand politician, who was expelled from South Africa’s then-ruling African National Congress party in 2012, has been calling for land reforms, a move that has attracted strong criticism from various bodies and foreign countries.
