Johannesburg - EFF leader Julius Malema has warned US President Donald Trump to stay out of South Africa's domestic affairs.
Malema was responding to a tweet by Trump on Thursday in which he said he had asked his Secretary of State Mark Pompeo to “study South Africa’s land seizures and land expropriations and killings of white farmers”.
Trump’s tweets were met with criticism by many South Africans and the government.
Malema said the country had a deep history of oppression and inequality and the answer to this was land reform.
“We want to send a strong message to the USA authorities, just like we did to the Australian authorities, stay out of South Africa’s domestic affairs.
“South Africa is a post-colonial country ceased with deep racial inequalities that were long designed by apartheid and colonisation. Our land expropriation programme seeks to realise the ideal of equality and human dignity,” said Malema.
Video: Matthew Van Schalkwyk
The EFF has been a strong supporter of land expropriation without compensation. The party had introduced a motion to amend the Constitution and allow for expropriation without compensation, which was supported by the majority of MPs in Parliament.
The party’s policy on land reform supports land expropriation without compensation and that land should be nationalised.
The ANC has been accused of kneeling to the EFF’s demands, following its recent announcement that it would support the amendment of the Constitution.
Malema labelled Trump a liar and said the party would not bow down to imperialism.
“Through land expropriation, we are forcing white people to share the land which was gained through a crime against the humanity of black and African people
“Be that as it may, we must put it on record, unequivocally, that Donald 'the pathological liar' Trump, we are not scared of you and your USA or Western imperialist forces. We are not the generation that is going to kneel at the statue of Western imperialism and accept to live in the indignity of black landlessness,” said Malema.
Malema has also hit back at Afriforum's assertions of a "white genocide" saying there was no such a thing and that in fact black people were most affected by crime.
"Afriforum is the embassy of the US. There is no such thing as a white genocide," said Malema.
Trump has yet to appoint an ambassador to South Africa after the departure of Patrick Gaspard.
The most senior US envoy is Jessye Lapenn who assumed the role of Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Mission in South Africa on December 16, 2016