‘Rape must be defeated in South Africa’: Malema

JOHANNESBURG – Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has slammed rapists during the party’s Youth Day lecture in the Eastern Cape.

He addressed a gathering at Fort Hare University to commemorate the 1976 Soweto uprisings on Sunday.

He says rapists have declared war against women and called for the scourge to be eradicated from society.

“Rape must be defeated in the institutions of learning, at workplaces, including at our homes, in our streets, in townships, in suburbs, in the rural areas because rape destroys society.”

Malema also addressed other challenges facing young people, including access to education unemployment and HIV/Aids.

The EFF leader also said the youth’s struggle in 1976 was not just against Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in schools, but a struggle to liberate the minds of African youth.

“The youth of 1976, when they fought against Afrikaans, knew that the colonizer wanted to make them into the colonizer’s image. The image of the colonizer is to want to bleach your skin, straighten your hair and to speak English better than the colonizer.

“June 16 happened not because of ANC. It happened because of Steve Biko. Those children were following the ideas of Black Consciousness.

“The struggle of 1976 was not just against Afrikaans, it was a struggle to liberate the mind. They knew the continuation of the oppression of the minds of black people, would never allow us to realize complete freedom.

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“Like the 1976 generation, ours is not a` struggle to attain power immediately. Before we become ministers, before we occupy seats of power, let us liberate the mind.”

Malema also addressed struggles today’s youth face, including unemployment, HIV/Aids and education.

“Young people are dying of Aids, young people are unemployed, young people have no access to education, young people are exploited and yet we continue to re-elect the same officials into power – it is because our minds are not liberated.

“We must fight for economic freedom until we attain it. We must not abandon our generational mission for political expediency.”