Metro

S’Africa: Trump tweets ‘large scale killings of farmers,’ Malema replies, ‘I don’t have time for nonsense’

Published

5 years ago

August 23, 2018

Donald Trump’s moves to discredit impending land reforms in South Africa has been met with stern reactions. The country’s best known critic, Julius Malema, has responded to Trump’s tweet alleging ‘large scale killings of farmers.’

Trump said he had asked his Secretary of State to look into the matter of “seizing land from white farmers”.

However, in a media briefing in Johannesburg, Malema countered Trump.
He said the US President was not saying “anything new we haven’t heard from white people. I don’t have time for nonsense. I expected it.”

Malema noted it was not just the US that would criticise expropriation of land without compensation.

“Britain will come for us and EU will come for us. For everything good comes the pain before.

“Donald Trump hasn’t said anything painful. The pain is still to come. They will kill us for this.”

On the allegation that white farmers are being killed in South Africa, he said:

“There’s no white genocide here. They are killing black people in the US.

“There’s no white genocide here. It’s absolute rubbish to say there’s white genocide. There’s black genocide in the USA. They’re killing black people in the USA.”

Malema’s party has been pushing hard for land reform – and now the ruling African National Congress (ANC) is pushing ahead with lands to expropriate land without compensation.

But Malema hinted that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s heart wasn’t in it, saying it was difficult to explain a policy one didn’t believe in.

Meanwhile, South Africa’s presidential spokeswoman has said that Trump was “misinformed”.

Last month, South Africa said it would go ahead with plans to amend the constitution, allowing land to be expropriated without compensation.

The redistribution of land was a fundamental principle of the governing African National Congress (ANC) during its struggle against white-minority rule.

But 24 years after apartheid ended, white people – who make up just 9% of the population – own 72% of the farmland held by individuals, according to government figures.

Related Topics:Cyril Ramaphosa Donald Trump EU Julius Malema Malema South Africa Trump US

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Metro

Rwandan President, Kagame sacks over 200 military personnel in major shake-up

Published

9 hours ago

June 7, 2023

Akanimoh Etim

Rwandan President, Paul Kagame has sacked over 200 soldiers including top military brass and commanders from the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) in a massive shake-up.

The dismissed officers include the former Commander of the Reserve Forces, Maj. Gen. Aloys Muganga, and Brig. Gen. Francis Mutiganda, a former Head of External Security in the National Intelligence Services, as well as 14 senior officers.

The announcement of the sacking of the officers which was contained in a statement released by the RDF on Wednesday, did not give reason for the sackings, but the move come a day after the president reshuffled the top echelon of the country’s military, which saw the firing of the Defence Minister and an Army Chief.

The sacking of the soldiers has further heightened tension between Rwanda and neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, with each side accusing the other of working with rebels to topple one another’s governments, according to reports in local media.

Metro

UN war crimes court declares Rwandan genocide suspect, Felicien Kabuga unfit to stand trial

Published

10 hours ago

June 7, 2023

Akanimoh Etim

An 88-year-old Rwandan genocide suspect, Felicien Kabuga has been declared unfit to stand trial by judges at a United Nations War Crimes Court in The Hague.

In a decision published by the court on Wednesday, the judges acknowledged that Kabuga was no longer able to actively participate in his trial, and rather proposed an alternative process that aims to resemble a trial but does not allow for a conviction instead of stopping the proceedings completely.

“The trial chamber finds Mr. Kabuga is no longer capable of meaningful participation in his trial,” the publication said.

“The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, therefore, finds that Mr. Kabuga is not fit for trial and is very unlikely to regain fitness in the future.

“It is therefore agreed to adopt an alternative finding procedure that resembles a trial as closely as possible, but without the possibility of a conviction,” it added.

Kabuga who was arrested in Paris where he had been in hiding under a false identity for several years, was one of the most wanted suspects of the Rwandan genocide, and was charged at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda with genocide and crimes against humanity.

At his initial arraignment in September last year, the ICC heard that Kabuga was alleged to have been the main financier of the ethnic Hutu militias who slaughtered over 800,000 minority Tutsis as well as political opponents during the genocide in 1994.

According to the UN, Kabuga, a wealthy businessman from the Hutu ethnic group, had established and financed an infamous media outfit, Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), which was notorious for inciting violence and promoting the targeting and elimination of individuals from the Tutsi ethnic group who were referred to as “Cockroaches”.

Kabuga was arrested in Paris in 2020 after decades on the run and sent for trial in The Hague where he pleaded not guilty to charges of sponsoring the infamous Hutu radical radio station urging people to kill Tutsi “cockroaches”.

He also denied supplying machetes and supporting the murderous Interahamwe Hutu militia.