By Kamuti Muyambela
South Africa’s Julius Malema yesterday forced French Ambassador to that country Aurelien Lechevalliar to emerge from his Embassy over demands that the must sign a memorandum to leave African countries in the Sahel, which are being exploited by France.
Speaking when he led a march of thousands of African nationals on the French Embassy in Pretoria yesterday as part of the Africa Day commemorations, Malema said he forced Amb Lechevalliar to emerge from the Embassy to collect the memorandum which had been prepared by his party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), but the Ambassador, despite saying he respected the EFF as a political organisation, said he would not sign the memorandum but would convey the message to Paris, France.
Malema whose party had prepared the memorandum and had it placed on the platform, went onto the stage and looking towards the French representatives who stood alongside the police officers, called the French representatives to move over to the stage to sign the documents.
“We now call the representatives of the Embassy to come and sign the memorandum and acknowledge receipt of the memorandum,” Malema said, as the two French Embassy officials who stood among the police officers looked at each other, with Malema firmly gazing towards them.
But as Malema’s eyes were focused on those French officials, Amb Lechevalliar who was not among those in public view, appeared from behind the podium and made his way onto the stage, proceeding immediately to shake Malema who was on hand to welcome him onto the stage in order to append his signature. As Malema and the Ambassador were shaking hands, an EFF official was already signing the two documents on behalf of EFF, which was followed Malema’s own signatures.
But as one Embassy staff got one of the documents and was preparing to leave the stage, Malema asked him to first sign the document before leaving, but it seemed he did not receive any luck as the official simply got the statement without signing it.
Malema immediately called in Amb Lechevalliar to acknowledge receipt of the documents.
In his brief address, Amb Lechevalliar first greeted the crowd, saying that the French Embassy respected the EFF as a political movement.
“Also I think you are very good organizers. You came to see us today so it was normal to come out and to receive your memorandum. We cannot sign the memorandum because it is your memorandum but we will convey the memorandum to Paris. And also I want to say an important message that we have our disagreement okay! And today France is a parter with Africa and we are friends of the African nations. Thank you very much,” Amb Lechevalliar said to whistles and boos as he immediately left the stage with the memorandum in his hands.
Shortly after, Malema led the crowd into chants of “Amandla (Power)! Down with France down! Down with the imperialist France down! Down with the imperialist America down! Down with the imperialist Spain down! Down with the imperialist Belgium down! Down with the imperialist Italy down! Amandla! Down with the coloniser Britain down!”
“So fighters when we say we don’t want France in Africa, it doesn’t mean we want Britain in Africa. It doesn’t mean we want Spain in Africa. It doesn’t mean we want Italy in Africa. They must all follow each other with their tail in between their legs, leaving our continent of Africa because Africa belongs to Africans. So fighters you must not be shaken. Today we just undermined white supremacy,” Malema said. “This is the Ambassador who was refusing to get out and said the protocol of France doesn’t allow him to get out. I had to leave the truck to go and fetch him. ‘This is not France, come here. This is Africa you will do what the Africans are doing.’ So comrades we must continue to fight for the unity of our continent. We must never be divided we must never allow France to divide us. We must never allow Britain to divide us. We must be one thing against the colonisers and the imperialists.”
Malema urged those in attendance to embrace fellow Africans whether they spoke French or English, saying they must know that colonial language was borrowed so that “we can hear each other”, because “they destroyed our own languages.”
He urged Africans to build their own continental language so that they should not use the colonial language to speak to each other.
“Swahili is one such example that is spoken in many other countries. When we say let’s make Swahili one language comrades in Nigeria say no our language is spoken by more people because we are many. We say no! It’s spoken by more people but in one country. Swahili might be spoken by fewer people than your people but it’s spoken in different countries. Therefore it’s the basis within which we can start to build a continental language,” Malema said. “Once we have a continental language we can communicate without imperialists hearing us. That is the beginning of the unity of Africa which is a threat to France and Britain.”
He said Africans must make sure that the resources and the land of Africa was returned into the hands of Africans because that was what the outsiders wanted in the continent, saying “they don’t want us but they want our resources. They say we are poor. How can we be poor when we come from a rich continent of Africa where all of them have moved into?”
“We never moved in their countries. They moved to us because we have got what they don’t have and that is the richness and they are fighting for our resources. We need the unity of Africa to defeat the French currency, to defeat the American currency. Build a strong currency of Africa based on gold and diamond and platinum and all the resources of Africa, both natural and mineral resources of our beautiful continent,” Malema said.
He said there was no room in his country and the continent for xenophobia, describing those who preached xenophobia as being spies of the French and British Embassies, and that they were working for foreign agents to divide Africans.
Malema further said Africa must defeat capitalism, saying that was why it was important to identify progressive organizations in the continent that were fighting for socialism.
He said there were those who claimed they were fighting for people’s freedoms on the continent but they were getting money from the French, but that his own organisation did not get any money from the western countries but from Africa.
“Africa is one country and therefore we must always treat each other like that. Fighters what you did today in solidarity with the people of Chad, with the people of Mali, with the people of 12 countries which are still exploited, western African countries that are exploited by France, is highly appreciated. You are here today to make history,” Malema said during the event monitored by Daily Revelation Media. “Some fool can say to you why are you marching against France? You have nothing to do with France. We have everything to do with France because France is at the center of the division of the African continent and the exploitation of the resources of Africa. That’s why we are here.”
He said the pain of west Africa was the pain of Southern Africa, as the continent was not free until the 12 African countries where France was operating reclaimed their resources and ran their own currencies as independent currencies.
“What type of independence is this where they say you are independent but you don’t have your reserve bank, for every reserve you must pay 50 percent to France and you can only borrow 15 percent, you can only take 15 percent, more than that you must beg for your own money to be released in France?” asked Malema. “That’s what France is doing to African people. That barbarism must be stopped and it can be stopped by the unity of Africa.”
He said Africans must join together to tell France to match out.
He urged his party members to reach out and win as many members as possible, because “every black person belongs to EFF except (South African President) Cyril Ramaphosa.”
