By Merlyn Mwanza
South Africa’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema says revolutionaries must not be scared to kill.
Featuring on BBC’s Hard Talk, Malema was told by the interviewer Stephen Sackur that there were a lot of white South Africans who fear him and would leave the country if he got anywhere near to power, Malema said they also said the same about late statesman Nelson Mandela.
“They are not scared of Julius Malema. They are scared of an independent black man who is not controlled by any white person, who is not controlled by London,” he said.
Reminded that he told his supporters not to be scared of killing because “a revolution means that at some point there must be killing because killing is part of a revolutionary act”, Malema retorted by saying: “Absolutely. Absolutely.”
“You can’t say you are a revolutionary and then be scared to kill. But once you go killing people around you are a terrorist. When you have got the support of the majority of your people to engage in war and the majority of the people are with you, that is the revolution. It’s not terrorism. And therefore I am not a terrorist. That’s why I’m saying at least for now the conditions have not dictated that there should be any one who should go to the bush and engage in war to kill,” Malema said. “But if those conditions necessitate we will without hesitation do that, the same way the generations before us, when conditions necessitated they were not scared to take up guns and shoot to kill. So I am not saying anyone must be killed. All I am saying is let everybody come to the party. Let’s build this country.”
He said his vision for South Africa will be won through a ballot box that produces a revolutionary party which will change the system to defeat capitalism and introduce a socialist state.
Malema said nothing should be looked at except the ballot, but when need arises to for defence through means necessary they will do so without hesitation.
Asked on his support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, Malema said his country was already in an alliance with Russia but was non-aligned on the war in Ukraine, but that that would change if he were given the instruments of power he would actually go a step further by aligning with Russia militarily and providing them weapons as they are fighting against imperialism.
He said any agenda that seeks to push back imperialist agendas must be supported.
But asked by Sackur that he was talking about arming Russian President Vladmir Putin who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes, Malema said the ICC must start by first arresting former British prime minister Tony Blair and former USA president George Bush for launching an illegal war against Iraq over lies about weapons of mass destruction and then Barack Obama for spearheading coalition that carried out indiscriminate air strikes in Libya to target Muarmar Gaddafi, before they could come to Putin.
But asked by Sackur if his policy was premised on his enemies enemies being his friends despite them being a war criminal, Malema referred Sackur back to the western leaders who have committed war crimes around the world, telling him that he was doing everything to stop Malema from addressing that matter.
He said Blair even indicated that he and his friends were wrong about Iraq but “you have never called for his arrest.”
Malema said the war in Ukraine could have been avoided had it not been for NATO’s imperial ambitions, saying progressive forces like China and others have joined Putin in creating an alternative to the imperialist domination of the world.
When the journalist asked that his future about South Africa seemed to be anchored on the authoritarianism of China, Malema said socialism was not authoritarianism as China subscribed to a doctrine where the working class command the economy where the means of production were owned and controlled by the state.
He said China was building their economy, reducing unemployment and poverty, wondering what was authoritarian about that, saying he admires China with how it deals with crime and infrastructural development.
However, Sackur retorted that that line of rhetoric has seen the Rand weaken, Foreign Direct Investment plunging and investors looking elsewhere to set up their headquarters, but Malema said that was brought about on account of the irresponsible utterances of the USA Ambassador to South Africa who against diplomatic protocol accused the African country of supplying weapons to Russia.
Asked on his failure to produce tax returns and other alleged criminal activities in the past for which he has not been convicted but was telling South Africans that he was the guy to run their economy, Malema castigated the BBC journalist Stephen Sucker of being a lazy minded journalist.
“That’s why, that’s a mind of a lazy person who doesn’t do his work. You will have to refer back to 15 years. I have grown up over a period of time, built a solid political party (and) the only thing you can keep referring to is what you interviewed me about it 12 years ago. Get something new my brother. Show a skill and as a hard working presenter who does his research,” Malema said. “You can’t falter me. I have made my mistakes when I was very young, when I was almost 27 years old fix that problem (and) today I am a 42 year old married man with children who has taken responsibility and built a solid party to be the third largest party without the support of white monopoly capital.”
Malema continued, telling the journalist that he was now beginning to sound like a scratched CD.
On the electricity crisis in South Africa, Malema warned that there would be chaos and a leaderless revolution if the electricity grid were to collapse in South Africa which is currently undergoing an energy crisis.
He gave parameters for any political party in South Africa that would want to work with his party that they will have to agree on the expropriation of land without compensation, establish a state owned bank, nationalise the mines and make sure to fight crime fire by fire.
