Professor Chris Malikane, Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba’s adviser, has said South Africans must “prepare for the worst” if they want radical economic transformation.
According to a report by the City Press, Malikane made the statement at the Blacks in Dialogue event in Johannesburg this weekend.
“It’s true that this country will plunge [into crisis] and become like Venezuela and Zimbabwe. India went through the same pain,” he said.
“If we are real about transformation, we need to be real and strengthen our people ideologically and politically. We need to organise and educate our people. Did you think to transform is going to be nice?”
Malikane said that the country’s Constitution needed to be changed, or people will have to “take up arms” to “achieve what we want to achieve”.
Malikane added that “there were black people defending white monopoly capital”, as certain “black people” would “jump at the sound of R1”.
“For example, there are those who own farms and aspire to be like white farmers. There are sectors within black society that have sold out.”
Land and private property had to be expropriated without compensation, he added.
Telkom chairman Jabu Mabuza recently warned that the expropriation of “white monopoly capitalist establishments”, land, and banks will lead to economic disaster.
This was in response to a recent article by Malikane – Our chance to complete the revolution – which advocates for drastic ultra-left and communist actions.
Mabuza said Malikane’s column was “an insult to our intelligence, disrespects our achievements, and threatens our plans for the future”.
