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IOL reports that the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) celebrated its 10th anniversary on Wednesday and took its celebrations to Marikana in the North West province.
Leader Julius Malema said they chose the Marikana Koppies to celebrate the party’s decade in politics, as it was there that the EFF was born. This year marks the 11th anniversary of the Marikana massacre which claimed the lives of 34 miners who were killed when police officers opened fire on striking miners on 16 August 2012, during a wildcat strike at the Lonmin platinum mine in Marikana. Malema relayed the story of how he, along with EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu and others, visited the surviving miners and the families of those slain, who begged them to start a political party as an “alternative to a dead ANC”. “We responded by forming the EFF. When we came here to talk to the workers, there was no idea or thinking of forming a political party until these workers insisted. We decided that the bloodshed here will give rise to a militant and radical organisation that will defend the defenceless masses of the people,” Malema said. At Wednesday’s gathering, the EFF slaughtered a number of cows and made traditional beer as a spiritual sacrifice to those who died in the Marikana massacre. “We seek to appease their spirits and assure them that they did not die in vain,” Malema told the mass gathering.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Kailene Pillay at IOL
- Read too, 'Marikana is our spiritual home,' says Malema as EFF marks its 10-year anniversary at massacre site, at News24
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page