Political analyst Ongama Mtimka says it’s unlikely that a large portion of society would hastily heed to the Economic Freedom Fighters’ (EFF) calls for invasions of vacant land.
Mtimka was reacting to EFF leader Julius Malema’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) debate speech on Tuesday, where he warned that the country risks a revolution if the governing African National Congress (ANC) does not expropriate land without compensation.
Malema says President Cyril Ramaphosa’s SONA did not inspire any confidence, especially in relation to the land issue.
Malema’s case for contravening the Riotous Assemblies Act of 1956, following his calls during the 2014 EFF inaugural conference for people to invade vacant land, is on November 8.
“There are a lot of people in SA who actually have the system working for them, with the black middle class that is coming and playing in that space. A critical mass of people would be needed, if we were to give the benefit of the doubt to Julius Malema’s intentions, is just not there.”
Mtimka adds: “The section of society that would start land invasions are people highly migrant and coming from rural areas looking for space and are poor. But one can’t envisage a situation where one would be grabbing land willy-nilly in SA. Even informal settlements are quite controlled.”
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