EFF won't be discouraged 'from fighting against whiteness and white privilege' - Malema
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) commander-in-chief Julius Malema, who has vowed to continue the fight against white privilege, says white people hate everyone who speaks out against the issue. He claims white people are even starting to hate Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane.
There has been internal debate within the DA after Maimane said white people remain privileged during a Freedom Day event.
Malema made his comments during an EFF breakfast with political editors and journalists in Braamfontein on Thursday.
"We will not be discouraged from fighting against whiteness and white privilege because they create unnecessary fear in South Africa", added Malema.
Malema said it still appears there are different rules for the various race groups in the country.
"I have never carried a gun to any march. Fifty thousand people marched from Joburg to Sandton without committing any crime, without shooting a white person, without beating a white person, without blocking roads, marching through roads dictated to them by the police peacefully.
"Those people are called fascists, but white people who march all the time in Pretoria, who are against the rules, 99% of them are carrying guns, no single journalist, no single political commentator calls them fascist, yet they are carrying guns," he said.
Malema also questioned why white members of the ANC still cannot speak some of South Africa's indigenous languages.
"Take amandla (power), something they say all the time, but they still can't say it properly… They have said that throughout their lives. That's how much they don't take us seriously," he remarked.
Malema brought up the issue of language while pondering the reaction to his infamous "cut the throat of whiteness" comment, which he had made when his party announced it would seek to have Athol Trollip removed as Nelson Mandela Bay mayor.
The EFF leader said the comment was figurative and should be understood in that context.
He also highlighted that the party's communications manager Sixolise Gcilishe had, through an article she had written, made him realise the minority in the ANC was still unable to grasp most of the languages used by the majority in the country.
The article praised Trollip for his ability to speak isiXhosa, a language mostly spoken by those he served as mayor.
She also questioned leaders of the liberation movement who sacrificed their lives for people, but had never bothered to understand their language.
"The ANC has made even white people in the movement feel superior," said Malema.
"There is a senior veteran of the ANC who says to me there was a black family that arrived in Lusaka and a white family that arrived in Lusaka, both driving together. The black family was taken to the camps and the white family was taken to apartments.
"When the leadership was asked why they took the white family to the apartments, they said: 'You know they are not used to this type of life. It is for us'," said Malema.
