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“Give Us the Farms”: Malema Demands Land Left Behind by Afrikaners Who Fled to the US

Published

3 months ago

May 20, 2025

zaghrah

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has reignited the debate over land reform, demanding that the South African government reclaim farms abandoned by 49 Afrikaners who recently emigrated to the United States.

Speaking on Monday outside the Union Buildings in Pretoria, where EFF supporters were holding a VAT “victory march” to the National Treasury, Malema questioned the legitimacy of those who claimed to be persecuted farmers.

“We don’t have a problem with people leaving voluntarily,” Malema said. “But we are asking for the addresses of those farms that were left behind. We will make a plan for them. We cannot allow land to lie idle.”

Malema challenged the narrative that those who left were real farmers, suggesting that many did not fit the profile.

“Nothing looked like a farmer among those people. They looked like car guards. That’s why they didn’t have land,” he added. “We want those farms.”

Land, Emigration, and Racial Politics

Malema’s remarks come in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump extending refugee protections to Afrikaners and other South African minorities, citing racial persecution and alleged “white genocide.” The controversial policy has sparked debate both in South Africa and abroad.

Trump’s administration claims that white South African farmers are targeted due to their race—a claim that South African authorities and analysts have repeatedly refuted. Malema dismissed the idea of a white genocide as “a deliberate lie” and accused lobby group AfriForum of exaggerating the issue for international sympathy.

“Let AfriForum go and follow their 49 people to America if there is really genocide,” Malema said.

EFF’s VAT March and Economic Demands

The EFF’s march, held a day before Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana tables the national budget, was aimed at celebrating the party’s role in halting further VAT increases. The EFF has been vocal about the impact of tax hikes on low-income South Africans and continues to push for radical economic reforms, including land expropriation without compensation.

Malema used the march to renew his party’s call for reclaiming abandoned land, especially that allegedly left behind by Afrikaners who emigrated under Trump’s refugee policy.

Land Reform Still a Flashpoint

Land remains one of South Africa’s most sensitive and polarizing issues. Calls for redistribution are often met with fears of economic instability, while supporters argue it’s essential for correcting historical injustices.

Malema’s latest remarks are likely to inflame both sides of the debate. While he insists the demand is about putting land to productive use, critics see it as another incendiary move in a deeply divided political climate.

For now, the fate of the allegedly abandoned farms remains unclear—but Malema and the EFF appear determined to place them at the center of the ongoing conversation around land, justice, and national identity.