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Die Stem ‘a direct assault on African Unity’: EFF

File photo: EFF commander-in-chief , Julius Malema. PHOTO: ANTONIO MUCHAVE
File photo: EFF commander-in-chief , Julius Malema. PHOTO: ANTONIO MUCHAVE

In celebration of African unity‚ the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) called for “the eradication of Die Stem from the South African national anthem” and curbs to Swaziland’s parasitic monarchy.

The EFF‚ in a statement acknowledging the 52nd anniversary of the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU)‚ said Die Stem “represents a direct conscious assault on African Unity”.

“This is because Die Stem celebrates the apartheid regime which killed and massacred black people‚ not in South Africa only‚ but also in Southern Africa as a whole in promotion of white supremacy and white minority rule‚” EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Quintin Ndlozi said.

“The EFF calls for the national anthem to only be Nkosi Sikelela as it was sang in the liberation struggle‚ also because it mobilised our people’s consciousness on a continental as opposed to narrow nationalist grounds.”

 The OAU has since been replaced by the African Union which now hosts 54 African nations‚ the party said‚ “amongst them Swaziland remains under the dictatorial and parasitic leadership of King Mswati III”.

This‚ the EFF held‚ “undermines the freedoms of ordinary people and their democracy on a continuous basis”.

“We further call on the non-negotiable democratisation of Swaziland; the South African government must play a leading role in pressuring Mswati’s government to concede to demands for democracy‚” he said.

He also uged the AU to isolate Morocco until it “ends its colonial occupation of Western Sahara and allow them the freedom to self-determination and sovereignty”.

The EFF also used its Africa Day statement to raise concern about challenges the continent faces in Islamic fundamentalist groups like Boko Haram and Al Shabaab.

“These terror groups have chosen to cowardly use innocent civilians in fighting for their demands‚” Ndlozi said‚ recalling the 147 students killed at Kenya’s Garissa Universtyand the 276 Chibok girls in Nigeria who were kidnaped by Boko Haram.

“The rise of Islamic fundamentalism together with its associated violence represents the continuing weakness of African states and the AU in that they are unable to protect ordinary and defenceless citizens and secure the gains of sovereignty and self-determination in the continent.

“A continental effort is urgent in undoing Boko Haram and Al Shabaab as they continue to threaten African unity‚ its peace‚ security and the human freedoms of its people.”

 

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