FOLLOWING the historic win of the Springboks at the Rugby World Cup and a week of unity and joy in Mzansi, the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Julius Malema, made bold statements.
Addressing hundreds of his followers at the Standard Bank Arena in Joburg on Sunday, 5 November, Malema said: “We don’t have a problem with rugby. We love rugby. We just don’t love Amabokoboko.”
He further said the Springboks were an apartheid symbol.
“You can’t say remove the apartheid symbols and maintain the name Springboks, the colours and the emblem of Springboks which were used during apartheid by white people,” he said.
“You can’t say Rhodes must fall and not say Springboks must fall. That national team will get a new name, a new colour and a new emblem which will represent our democracy,” he said.
His followers cheered and clapped as he continued to say they were being forced to salute the emblem that was used by the apartheid regime.
The gathering was initially a meeting between the party leadership and the Gauteng EFF Provincial Ground Forces Forum members to discuss or get directives on the preparation of the 2024 national and provincial election campaign.
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Speaking on this, Malema told the masses that no ground force must remove or destroy any property belonging to another political party or remove their posters.
“Let me tell you, we are going to run a clean campaign. No ground force must threaten anyone, particularly women who support other political parties and including threatening other fighters,” Malema added.
“Fighters don’t disrupt meetings of other political parties. Don’t prevent people from doing their things. You can’t stop anyone from doing door-to-door or campaigning in your ward or even in your squatter camp where you occupied the land,” he said.
He further told them to help communities without expecting anything in return.
“Help communities without expecting votes from communities. Go and help them, and help them genuinely,” he further said.
