EFF Statement on Threats of Disruption by ‘ANC Hooligans' at University of Limpopo During Address by the Commander In Chief, Julius Malema

30 September, 2013

Economic Freedom Fighters has once more received reports that its meeting at the University of Limpopo will be disrupted by members of the ANC. This comes after the same mindless hooliganism occurred at the University of South Africa, the University of Johannesburg including in different branch launching meetings across the country.

Members of the ANC and its alliance partners in forms of trade unions and student organizations have made it their mission to deny the right of EFF to exist, associate and to freedom of speech, all of which are basic rights guaranteed by the constitution. This unfortunate behaviour by these structures has come without any condemnation from their mother or national bodies; a silence that we are left with no choice but to interpret as an approval of their lawless acts.

Twenty years after 1994 we take it that an organisation so old, even though it may not understand the economics of decolonisation, but at most, they must understand the basic rules of political democratic multipartism. Freedoms of speech and association are the cornerstones of multiparty democracy and give a life force to democratic consolidation and participation, without which dictatorships arise and evil flourishes.

It is therefore in this spirit that we call upon the African National Congress to break its silence on its members and alliance partners who have made it their mission to disrupt the meetings of the Economic Freedom Fighters all over the country. For evil flourishes more when those who know what is right, like the University of South Africa, keep silent; their silence directly or indirectly gives a vote of confidence to wrong doing.

We further hope that the University of Limpopo will, unlike UNISA and UJ, do its duty to protect the constitutional rights of all who belong to it and the public that partakes in its events. Institutions of Higher Learning, being centres of knowledge production, are expected to be the first defence of the freedom of expression because if they too produce a knowledge that is critical of the ANC, they may be subject to the same disruption facing the EFF.

We call upon all fighters in Limpopo, Polokwane as well as across the country to do all in their power to protect their meetings and the right to speak truth to power. Fighters must stand their ground for ours is a just course for economic emancipation in our lifetime. Our message must be heard so that our people can be awaken from the deep sleep that the government of the day has launched them in, for the completion of decolonization in our country.

Statement issued by the Economic Freedom Fighters, September 30 2013

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