Cape Town – Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has reportedly slammed the leader of Black First Land First (BLF) Andile Mngxitama after he mocked the red berets in a tweet, saying they had made a U-turn on their “open-border policy”.
This came after Malema told his supporters last weekend that his party would be visiting the hospitality industry across the country to assess how many foreign nationals were employed in the sector.
Malema said this while addressing the EFF Siyabongs rally in Durban.
“We are poor, we are unemployed, we want jobs. When you go to restaurants foreigners are working in restaurants. Do not hate the foreigners, hate the owner of the restaurant because those foreigners did not hire themselves.
“Ethekwini, Joburg, Tshwane, PE, all metros… from next week, we are visiting – not violently, leadership only – we are visiting the hospitality industry… we want the owner of Hilton Hotel in Durban to tell us how many South Africans are working here…
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“We are not fighting with our brothers, but if I get a tender in Umlazi, the law says I must hire people from Umlazi. Why is that law not applying in the hospitality industry?,” Malema said, in a move to ensure that more locals were hired than foreigners.
Malema’s remarks were viewed by many, including Mngxitama, as a U-turn on the EFF’s open-border policy.
” The pseudo Pan-Africanists of open borders….What happened to the open border policy? Flip-flop!” Mngxithama tweeted in part, according to Times Live.
In response, Malema rubbished Mngxitama, saying he was “tweeting from a sick bed”.
“It is from fools like that sick Andile Mngxitama. Instead of concentrating on taking medication and healing himself, he involves himself on matters that are beyond sick people. He is tweeting from a sick bed. I cannot waste my time with such characters,” the report quoted Malema as saying.
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He said that his party, had since 2016, been advocating for at least 60% of the workforce in local companies to be South Africans.
“In 2016 already, we said we need 60% of those employed per company to be South Africans but no-one is going to touch a foreigner because no foreigner has hired himself or herself,” said Malema.
According to EWN the EFF leader has always been advocating for an open border policy, saying that Africans must move freely on the continent.
Last year, he said that foreign nationals should find “creative” ways to enter into the country and that the EFF would rather lose votes than join the bandwagon of blaming the unemployment crisis in South Africa on foreign nationals, IOL reported.
“If the gates are not going to be open for SADC. Fellow SADC people, please, find a creative way. This is your home. Your families are here. There is no way anyone is going to close you out here,” he said at the time.
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Compiled by Odwa Shumi
