Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema clarified that he had never called for violence during his party's political briefing at the ongoing election conference in Nasrec, south of Johannesburg.
Malema's statement that violence is inevitable to change the status quo caused an uproar, but he told a press conference that he had been misunderstood for quoting Marxist political philosopher Frantz Fanon. .
“You want to talk about violence, but you attribute it to me when I quote Frantz Fanon about violence in a speech. Those who want to maintain violence are saying, “Violence is inevitable because the interests of that conquest are not going to yield those things without violence. Therefore, demanding the expropriation of land without compensation amounts to violence against the people who own the wrongfully acquired land. ”
Meanwhile, Malema refused to explain the absence of senior party official and former spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi from the party's ongoing Third People's Conference in Nasrec, south of Johannesburg.
Questions are also being raised over Mr Ndlozi's position within the party as nominations for party leaders begin at an election conference this afternoon.
Related video: “Dr Ndlozi remains a member of the EFF” – Julius Malema
Mr Malema said those who were supposed to attend the meeting were present.
“I'm not going to answer questions about Mbuyiseni Ndlozi. You have his phone number and there are people who talk to him and call him.”
“I am not responsible for Mbuyiseni Ndlozi. 90% of the people who were here, who were expected to be here, are here. That is what matters.” Those who are not here. We shouldn't have been here in the first place. So we are not going to diminish this organization to any particular individual, we are going to reject that,” he added.
