EFF president Julius Malema says those complaining about foreign nationals owning spaza shops in townships should instead focus on the broader struggle for control of strategic sectors of the economy, including mines.
He argued that attention is being diverted from what he described as the real issue of economic ownership and transformation.
He was speaking on Sunday at the funeral service of uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party) parliamentary deputy chief whip Mzikayise Ntshingila.
Malema questioned why public outrage and mobilisation were directed at spaza shops while there was no similar action targeting ownership of the mining sector, which he described as central to South Africa’s economy.
“Why is there a strike to fight for spaza shops, but there is no strike to block the roads and claim the mines, and say these people who are mining here are the same as those that own spaza shops, they are not from here.
He said the country’s strategic means of production should be returned to what he described as rightful owners.
“Let the mines, the strategic means of production, be returned into the hands of the rightful owners,” Malema said.
Malema also suggested that international powers had shown little response to tensions around migration and xenophobia in South Africa because it did not affect their interests.
“Why are there no sanctions? Go to Cape Town and take them out of their posh houses and say to them show us your passport go to Sandton and say to them show us your passport lets see what Israel is going to do to you, let’s see what America is going to do to you.
He said there was no international response because South Africans were focused on internal divisions rather than broader structural economic issues.
“There is no international response. We are concentrating on each other; they are making us lose the bigger picture,” Malema said.
Malema said South Africa’s economic transformation must be grounded in redress arising from colonial and apartheid inequality, arguing that the African working class and women should be prioritised because they remain the most disadvantaged.
“African working class and the white working class are not of the same status. We ought to emphasise the African working class because their situation is worse. We ought to emphasise women because their situation is worse,” he said.
He added that this approach was not based on hatred but on correcting historical injustice.
“It doesn’t mean we hate coloureds, but coloureds are us, but their conditions were not the same as ours, it doesn’t mean we hate Indians, but their conditions were not the same as ours. .
Malema further called for unity among African people and warned against divisions within the working class, saying such divisions weakened the broader struggle for economic transformation.
“We were never taught the politics of hate, and we will never start hating now. We love all South Africans, Africans in particular, both in South Africa, Africa and in the diaspora,” he said.
Malema also said the death of Ntshingila should serve as a moment of unity, noting his role in parliamentary cooperation and in the formation of the Progressive Caucus Charter.
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