‘Day of Reconciliation celebrates racism’ – EFF fully reject public holiday

We think it’s fair to say the EFF isn’t feeling particularly festive on Wednesday. For today’s public holiday – the Day of Reconciliation – South Africans are urged to acknowledge the work that has gone into settling the differences of our people, fuelled by our tumultuous history. However, the Red Berets feel that the commemoration is a sham.

Day of Reconciliation? Not for the EFF…

EFF Commissar Mbuyiseni Ndlozi was first out of the blocks on Wednesday. He said that ‘justice, not reconciliation’ should be pursued in South Africa. He then went on to argue that the day cannot exist until land reform is properly implemented:

“You can’t reconcile with someone you were never one with in the first place. We must seek justice, not reconciliation. There can be no reconciliation without the land. On the 16th December, the records show that over 10 000 Zulu warriors died resisting colonial dispossession of land during the Battle of eNcome.”

“Today, in memory of this battle we must repeat the mantra: No Reconciliation without Land!”

Mbuyiseni Ndlozi

Red Berets reject public holiday

An official party statement soon followed. The EFF also rallied against the Day of Reconciliation as a collective. They maintain that 16 December was a bruising day for the Zulu people, and celebrating this event is tantamount to ‘racism’. The party also went on to push their political ideals:

“There is nothing reconciliatory about a day on which the dispossession of land was furthered by an entitled people who arrived in Africa and established themselves as a superior race. The day celebrates racist Afrikaaners waging a war against the Zulu nation, who tried to conquer a nation using on the basis of skin colour.”

“The project of reconciliation has failed in South Africa, as it is built on a society fulled by injustice and lies. The EFF will continue to lead a true agenda of reconciliation, which will focus on land expropriation without compensation. Mines, banks and strategic economic sectors must also be nationalised.”

EFF statement

EFF Statement On Reconciliation Day pic.twitter.com/QMhJePYSTO

— Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFSouthAfrica) December 16, 2020