The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) used their Freedom Day rally, held in Brandfort, in the Free State, to honour the late struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, while also taking a stab at the post-apartheid African National Congress (ANC).
Speaking at the site where Mama Winnie was banished in 1969, EFF leader Julius Malema highlighted the sacrifices made by “Mama Winnie” Madikizela-Mandela.
Malema spoke of the resilience she showed after being held in solitary confinement for 491 days.
“Comrades, Mama Winnie was forcibly relocated to this place called Brandfort by the Apartheid regime, separated from her children and community, and placed under constant surveillance. The regime hoped this isolation would break her,” Malema said at the rally event.
“Instead, Brandfort became a place of resistance. She used her home to educate, organise, and support the local community. She turned her punishment into power.”
Madikizela-Mandela became the face of the anti-apartheid struggle following the arrest of her husband Nelson Mandela in 1962.
“It must be said without apology: if it were not for Mama Winnie, the name of Nelson Mandela might not have survived the 27 years of his imprisonment,” Malema added.
“She kept his name alive. She kept the struggle burning. She ensured that the world never forgot Robben Island.”
However, Malema accused her comrades of betraying her post-1990, by embracing neoliberalism, negotiating compromises and sidelining those that still carried the “flame of radical change”.
“She opposed the direction of the ANC’s policies – its retreat from nationalisation, its betrayal of the Freedom Charter, its closeness to white capital, and its failure to deliver land and justice to the people,” Malema said.
“For this, she was isolated, vilified, and kept out of positions of power. She remained loyal to the people, but not to the betrayal of their dreams,” the EFF leader added.
Malema also used the Brandfort rally to question the current state of affairs, lamenting today’s South Africa that is plagued by corruption, inequality and disillusionment, while basic service delivery eludes many.
“We claim we are free while our people live in sewage; where children are unemployed and parents find solace in substance abuse,” he said.
