On 30 April 2015 Rhodes University students and staff members assembled into tightly squeezed Barratt lecture theatres where the CIC of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Julius Sello Malema was scheduled to give a lecture. This lecture formed part of the EFF’s campaign to recruit students from various universities in South Africa.

“Amandla! Awethu, Amandla! Awethu!” chanted Malema as he began the lecture that he described as an attempt to do justice to the issues that have been facing South African universities. On the top of this list of issues was the #RhodesNameChange which formed the outline of the lecture.

“The biggest crime committed by oppressors was the taking of the land,” said Malema, “and now the one who owns the land owns the means of production. These owners also own the education system and what you learn is what they want you to learn.” Malema went on to add that it is time that people took back the ownership of the land and that should start with a name change.

With education at the forefront of Malema’s argument he set out to empower the people who had come to engage in his discussion, “At the centre of the struggle of the EFF is the quality of education,” said Malema, “an institution like this one with such a problematic name needs to be liberated in order to create a liberation of the mind.”

As part of his argument Malema expressed his feelings about the current leadership in South Africa, “South Africa is available to the highest bidder, the government has failed to protect its local industries,” said Malema, “nothing is smart about Cyril Ramaphosa, he has nothing to offer, the only thing they buy from him is his blackness.”

Malema urged that the country celebrate the producing of ideas, and not “sell-outs” and “parasites”, “Students must celebrate ideas, free thinking and innovation,” he said, “You need to take the junk that you learn here and change it into production.”

Towards the end of his lecture Malema spoke about how the country would benefit from a change of leadership, “there are so many things that can be done, the problem is that our leaders are sitting on top of their brains,” he said, “South Africa is one of the last countries to be liberated and we had a chance to learn from the rest of Africa but we didn’t.”

Malema’s lecture was well received by those in attendance. Although students and lecturers had gathered and filled up both lecture theatres almost half an hour before the lecture was scheduled to begin, there was no time for questions as Malema had to give his lecture one theatre at a time due to overcrowding.

Over a hundred students waited in the rain outside the theatre as they were not permitted to enter due to safety regulations and overcrowding.

“I think if Comrade Malema had a valid point to make, he wouldn’t have excluded three quarters of the students his arguments affect the most,” said BCom student Mbongeni Nldovu who had been waiting in the rain for over two hours.

Although most of the crowd outside the lecture theatre had been waiting since before Malema arrived with the hopes that they too would have the chance to be addressed by him, others were happy with just seeing him in person.

“I’m not so politically involved but I came here because I wanted to see the man in person and it would be something to capture a memory about,” said first year student Emanual Vilakazi.

The EFF Student Command team has since issued a statement of apology to those who waited and were not addressed by Malema.

Article by: Thandi Bombi

Photo by: Hlumela Mkabile