EFF leader Julius Malema has once again angered the Indian community by saying that the majority of Indians are racist.
According to eNCA, Malema was addressing a Youth Day event at Matlosana Stadium in Klerksdorp in the North West when he said: "We were not all oppressed the same. Indians had all sorts of resources Africans didn't have, coloureds as well. The majority of Indians are racist. I'm not saying all, I'm saying [a] majority.
"They deliberately distort what we say. I'm telling all those Indian journalists that organised a mob against us - we are not scared. You will fail. We are not made by the media - we are made by the masses of our people."
He also defended EFF chief whip in Parliament, Floyd Shivambu, for his attack on Treasury deputy director-general Ismail Momoniat. Shivambu sparked outrage when he accused the seasoned mathematician of undermining Africans at National Treasury and of being part of an Indian "cabal" in the apartheid years, which worked to undermine the Mass Democratic Movement.
According to the Mail&Guardian, Malema said on Saturday: "If Momo fought in the struggle he would have understood what Floyd said. A revolutionary would have known that when he went into prison, when he went into exile – he would know he was fighting for black people [predominantly for African people]."
Just under a year ago, in July 2017, Malema made similar comments by accusing Indians of exploiting African workers and monopolising the KwaZulu-Natal economy, according to IOL. Addressing EFF supporters at the party's fourth anniversary special, he reportedly said: "They don't pay our people. The Indians who own shops don't pay our people. They give them food parcels. We want a minimum wage even in the Indian shops.
"When you are black and you have a domestic worker, pay them the minimum wage and treat them properly. If you are an Indian and you have a shop, treat our people properly," Malema said.
He accused the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal of being captured by "Indian families".