EFF leader Julius Malema on Wednesday took the party back to where it was conceived – the Marikana koppie in North West, where dozens of mineworkers were massacred in 2012.
To invoke the spirits of the fallen workers who perished on August 16 2012 for demanding a decent salary, the EFF slaughtered 15 cows and brewed umqombothi for locals, as a symbolic show of sacrifice to ancestors.
Malema said this was deliberate, as a party understood the importance of ranking those who came before them, and there was no better way to do that but to spill animal blood.
According to Malema, the idea of forming a political party that the EFF has become never crossed his mind until he visited Marikana in the aftermath of the massacre.
When he arrived at the koppie, where mineworkers had gathered, he said, they asked him to establish a new political home for them because they felt the ANC had abandoned the working class and poor people.
It was after this that public consultations ensued and 11 months later, the EFF was officially launched as a political party. It went on to become the third-biggest party in parliament a year later.
The firebrand former ANC Youth League leader said the EFF had gone back to Marikana on the 10th anniversary to give thanks for the blessings of those on the other dimension and ask for forgiveness committed by the living.
“Our Marikana ancestors will reward this offering and sacrifice because it is a proof that we are able to share with the people of our beautiful land,” he told thousands of supporters gathered at the koppie.
“The cow is considered to have the power to attract the attention of the deceased who provide the life and the welfare of the living.
“Our people understand slaughtering as a means of connecting with the departed who are a conduit of our needs to the one who appeared first.
“The departed will never reward a family in conflict with itself. The departed love a united family. The departed who were killed here want to see a united working class.”
Malema said the EFF was undergoing a spiritual journey to teach Africans to accept their traditions and beliefs instead of looking down on them at the expense of foreign beliefs.
The party will continue down this path at the weekend when 100 cows will be sacrificed for 100 000 people expected to gather at its anniversary rally at the FNB Stadium.
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