Party will target land on bonded houses — Malema

EFF leader Julius Malema says land expropriation without compensation will include land on which bonded houses have been built.

Speaking at a business breakfast for editors in Braamfontein on Thursday‚ Malema said land would become the main condition for the ANC if it wanted to get support in 2019.

His party’s wish was for support for the ANC to drop low enough for it to need the EFF in order to stay in power, he said.

Malema also dismissed fear that land expropriation would scare off investors.

“We wrote a parliamentary question to all departments asking them how many hectares of land they own and what it is used for. The same goes to the provinces and municipalities.

“We want to prove one thing — people say when the land is in the hands of the state‚ there will not be investors. It is a myth. It is wrong,” said Malema.

“Most of the state-owned land has actually been leased out and people are investing in it. Knowing they are not owning it‚ yet they put money in it.”

Malema sought to explain how the EFF wanted land expropriation without compensation to be implemented.

“We are nationalising the land and everything that comes with the land underground‚ not these things on top. If you’ve got a bond‚ we will talk to the bank that we have taken the land.

“[We will ask the bank] how much was the land and they will tell us and we will say that is gone without compensation. You will be left with [only] the bond of the house.

“We’ve never said we are nationalising the houses. We are nationalising the land.

“If you have a bonded house‚ you must continue to pay but we will give you a discount because we have taken that debt away from you. We are not going to pay any bank‚” Malema said.

The EFF’s business breakfast was the first by the party‚ allowing journalists to have direct interaction with the leadership. Malema also said there were many examples where private investors had committed their money to state-owned land.

“Take Ushaka Marine [World] for instance. That facility is owned by the municipality. People have invested in it. They’ve put their own money in it.

“We are going to release a list of huge projects which go into billions of rands happening on state land. People never said that we cannot put money on this project because the land is owned by the state‚” he said.

Earlier, the EFF said it was planning a national shutdown to bring awareness to problems in the public health system, as it had declared 2018 as the year of public health.

Malema said the EFF also wanted a total ban on alcohol advertising as liquor had a serious effect on society.