Julius Malema led a march of hundreds of members of his Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party to the offices of South Africa’s richest man, Johann Rupert. Rupert is a billionaire businessman who controls the International luxury goods conglomerate Richemont, which owns brands such Montblanc and Cartier. The Rembrandt group founded by Rupert’s father, Anton Rupert, grew into one of South Africa’s largest corporations owning stakes in everything from tobacco companies, to banks and insurers.

The EFF marched to the offices of Remgro, a Rupert controlled holding company, headquartered in Stellenbosch. The march was called EFF Land Day. The 6th of April 1652 was when the Dutch colonialist, Jan Van Riebeeck, landed at the Cape of Good Hope. This day is seen as the start of colonialism and Apartheid in South Africa. Van Riebeeck is still revered as a historical hero by many white South Africans.

Malema said the problems of black people will be solved when they get the land. Malema said white South Africans were in possession of stolen land and as such that made them criminals. Malema says there is no future in South Africa without indigenous people having ownership of the land. Malema told the crowd of mostly young people the highest honour for a revolutionary is either prison or death.Malema wants Rupert’s farms to be given to black people.

Land dispossession and mass removals of people were one of the cornerstones of the Apartheid regime. Millions of people of colour were dispossesed of their land when the Apartheid regime declared these areas as “whites only” areas. Since 1994 a land reform programme was started under the ruling African National Congress, however most black people still remain landless and live in squalor in shanty towns.

The policy of the EFF is for and in South Africa be expropriated without compensation.