EFF leader Julius Malema has urged President Duma Boko to pursue sweeping structural reforms, arguing that true political change requires a complete transformation of the system rather than gradual reforms
GAZETTE REPORTER
South African Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has challenged President Duma Boko on what he described as a “complete overhaul of the system”, warning that political change without fundamental transformation does not amount to a revolution.
Malema’s call for a wholesale transformation of the political system contrasts sharply with Boko’s more measured, incremental approach to reform, an apparent divergence that has increasingly unsettled some within the UDC, including party cadres who expected the change in government to usher in more sweeping and immediate transformation.
Addressing delegates at the BNF National Conference in Jwaneng yesterday, Malema warned that governments without resilient political movements are vulnerable to manipulation by those seeking to exploit the country’s people and mineral wealth.
“The risk of leading a government while not having a strong and resilient organisation with principles is that those whose sole purpose is to exploit the people and mineral resources of Botswana will manipulate and capture those in government,” he said.
INFILTRATION
Malema argued that the weakening of a liberation movement marks the beginning of the reversal of the gains of freedom.
“Once the movement which won political power is infiltrated, weakened and captured, the gains of freedom begin to be reversed,” he said.
He stressed that political change alone does not constitute a revolution if the lives of ordinary citizens remain unchanged.
A TRUE REVOLUTION
“Revolution means a complete overhaul of the system. It can be that when you took over power, those who oppressed before lost nothing, and those who were oppressed gained nothing. Once it happens like that, there was never a revolution,” Malema said.
He further called for Botswana’s mineral resources and economy to be owned and managed by Batswana, saying, “We must manage our own economy.”