EFF demands justice for slain Floyd and Khosa
Malema says they will sue the state on behalf of SA family
For eight minutes and 46 seconds, EFF members around SA knelt on one knee and prayed as they pledged their support to the US #BlackLivesMatter movement and an end to racism during a wave of nationwide protests.
The red berets also demanded justice for Collins Khosa, who was killed allegedly by soldiers while at his home. The picketers, who gathered in small groups in East London, King William’s Town, Mdantsane, Mthatha, Komani, Aliwal North, Mount Fletcher, Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage, Pretoria, Johannesburg, and Mangaung, among other cities, also demanded an end to police brutality.
The #BlackLivesMatter protests started in the US after George Floyd was killed by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds while three of his former colleagues watched.
After violent protests around the US, Chauvin was fired and charged with murder while Thomas Lane, J Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao face aiding and abetting him, among other charges.
The EFF members, carrying placards that read #WeCantBreathe and calling for justice and an immediate end to racism, sang struggle songs and danced against systemic racism across the world.
Speaking on the sidelines of the East London protest, EFF BCM regional leader Xolile Mboni said they could not sit and do nothing while black people were being killed across the world.
“There are many cases of police brutality and systemic racism all across the world. It is not only George Floyd or Collins Khosa that forced us to take to the streets to say ‘enough is enough’.
“We opted to protest near police stations because some of these atrocities are committed by police officers who are meant to be protecting the citizens.
“In many cases, they [the police] are the actual perpetrators of such brutality and racism against our people, and we are saying that needs to stop before any more blood is lost,” Mboni said.
EFF leader Julius Malema led a protest outside the US embassy in Pretoria, his deputy Floyd Shivambu led a group to the US embassy in Johannesburg, and national chair Veronica
Mente was outside the US consulate in Cape Town.
Malema said the EFF would sue the state on behalf of the Khosa family.
He said they had assembled a strong legal team to litigate. He added the party had paid the costs of Khosa’s funeral.
“We went to court and we won the costs of the funeral. We are now proceeding to sue the government.
“Leave that report of the military that says soldiers are not at fault — it is friends trying to please each [other]. We will meet them at the neutral court of law.”
Malema said the EFF would demand damages for Khosa’s wife and the family.
The EFF became the latest political party to join global solidarity protests for the #BlackLivesMatter movement after the ANC and its alliance partners launched a similar initiative on Friday, “as part of the call for justice” for Floyd.
The ruling party said it was concerned about the heavyhandedness of security forces against black people, with ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa saying the death of Khosa and 10 others who died at the hands of police officers during the Covid19 lockdown was regrettable.
He said he had made it clear, as he called for a lockdown of the country to deal with the spread of the virus, that soldiers and police officers should treat citizens with caution, and protect and not harm them.