Malema: ANCYL wants more radical land policy

2011-04-21 11:31

Johannesburg - The ANC Youth League (ANCYL) is pursuing a campaign for land redistribution without compensation, its president Julius Malema said in his hate speech trial on Thursday.

In response to questions on the subject, he said the current official policy was willing buyer, willing seller, but that this was not working and a "more radical" policy was needed.

"But now there is a discussion document we have launched as the youth league on taking over the land without compensation," he said.

He would not be drawn on repeated questions about whether this meant land would be taken from whites.

According to the ANC's Freedom Charter, which he described as the Bible of the party, the land should be shared by all who work it in South Africa.

On further questioning, he said: "The revolution I pursue seeks to transfer power from the minority to the majority."

Lost in translation

Earlier, he conceded that the ANCYL was pursuing the nationalisation of mines and was "going there" with banks and other monopolies.

Malema is on trial under the Equality Act for alleged hate speech for singing the lyrics "awudubhule ibhunu". He said he did not recognise the translation from isiZulu as "shoot the boer".

"When it is translated, it does not mean the same," said Malema, who is defending his right to sing the lyrics based on their significance during the struggle against apartheid.

Malema sang the lyrics four times in South Africa and once in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe is recovering after a massive change in land ownership, driven primarily by informal groups of people described as war veterans.

- SAPA