EFF statement on 6th April 1652, Land Day
6 April 2022
The Economic Freedom Fighters observes the 6th of April as the day the problems of South Africa began. On this day in 1652, the colonialist and land thief Jan Van Riebeek, arrived on the shores of this country on board the ships Dromedaris, Rheiger and Goedehoop.
Arriving on our shores under the pretence of establishing a refreshment station, Van Riebeek went on to lead the brutal theft of our land, on the basis of colonial and Western rationality.
Simply because Africans did not subscribe to the capitalist notion that land is an individual asset to be owned for purposes of wealth accumulation, Van Riebeek and his gang of thieves took it upon themselves to steal our land, because it was not encroached and supposedly did not contribute to their global capitalist economic system.
It has been 370-years since that fateful day, and black life in this country remains one of trauma, dispossession and landlessness. Africans remain underdeveloped, black people continue to live in squalor and we remain collective spectators in the economic affairs of our country.
The benefactors of land theft are emboldened, and were granted forgiveness for their crimes against African people without any justice or return of the land and mineral wealth of South Africa.
The indigenous people of Africa, bear the brunt of the pain inflicted on their ancestors by a band of thieves who openly threaten war when cries for the return of the land are made.
The Rupert family, together with the Oppenheimer's are direct decedents and successors of Dutch East Indian Company, the first gang and cash in transit criminal company to unleash land dispossession in the Cape, led by Van Riebeek.
Each and every aspect of African life, from the social, political and economic, is under the firm grip of what can only be described as a Stellenbosch Mafia. Through Remgro, Rupert has a perverse influence in the generation of energy at Eskom, he has an influence over the financial sector and the banks and maintains a complete dominance in the retail sector.
Rupert is a disciple of the blueprint of conquest which was crafted in 1652, and he entrenches the misery of Africans. He is at the centre of the extraction of the wealth of our land to offshore accounts and a contributor to the system of illicit-financial flows and tax evasion.
Johann Rupert honours his ancestor Jan Van Riebeek, by disgracing Africans, and subjecting them to an economy he has monopolised which results in what is essentially forced labour on the farms, where our people are paid in alcohol.
The EFF as a leading voice in the fight for the return of the land, will continue to wage a principled fight against this racist and colonial establishment, and this begins by demanding the return of our land.
We observe what we have correctly identified as Land Day, by confronting directly the descendants of the land thief who orchestrated land dispossession in 1652.
In Malelane Mpumalanga, the Deputy President of the EFF Floyd Shivambu will lead demonstrations at the farms of Johann Rupert and demand the return of our land and all our resources which he hoards in foreign nations.
In Stellenbosch, the Commander in Chief and President of the EFF Julius Malema will lead the confrontation of Johann Rupert at his properties, and demand that he return our land and cease his parasitic influence over our economic and political reality.
We will continue to accelerate the call for the expropriation of land without compensation and blatantly refuse to collaborate in sell-out motions which dilute this straightforward demand.
Let us all observe Land Day by identifying a piece of land for settlement or agriculture, and if you like it, take it!
Issued by Sinawo Thambo, National Spokesperson, EFF, 6 April 2022
