EFF STATEMENT ON MARITZBURG HIGH AND ITS VIOLATION OF

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Saturday, October 14, 2017
Mbuyiseni Quintin Ndlozi

The EFF expresses its unconditional support for Olwethu Shelembe and
Yamkela Mbabama who were charged with misconduct by Maritzburg High for
expressing their support for EFF and its vision. These two fighters are
academically excellent students who are in their matric year. In fact, they will
start to write their matric exams next week.

The school has charged them, threatening them with expulsion for declaring
that EFF is their last hope for the return of the land. In addition, they
expressed how they cannot wait for 2019 to cast their vote for the economic
emancipation movement. For this reason, the school management has served
them with charges, even arguing that they are racist.

We reject this as pure apartheid, Nazi and colonial thinking on the part of the
school. In our democracy, there is no bylaw, rule or school code of conduct
that must be inconsistent with our supreme law of the land; the constitution.
Maritzburg High, by charging our young fighters, is in direct violation of the
constitution. It is offending their rights to freedom of expression.

The young men have not killed anyone, stolen anything or caused any
physical harm. They have simply expressed an idea and by suppressing them,
the school is not only anti-intellectual but also scared of the truth. By charging
them, the school is seeking to guarantee protection to the reactionary and
anti-black racists who refuse to see blacks as equals and as rightful owners of
the land. The school is dancing to white supremacist tunes, thus reproducing
itself as hostile to our democratic order.

The EFF wants to send a strong warning to Maritzburg High that we are ready
to defend the democratic rights of our supporters with any revolutionary
means possible. We demand that they drop their reactionary and
unconstitutional charges with immediate effect or face the full might of our
mass power.

The black child has a freedom to express their thoughts anywhere in this
county without any fear or favour. This freedom, which is also the freedom of
Olwethu Shelembe and Yamkela Mbabama, has long been paid with blood
over centuries of our liberation struggle.

The school must drop the charges and allow the young people to focus on
their exams without any disciplinary hearing hanging over their heads.
ISSUED BY THE ECONOMIC FREEDOM FIGHTERS

MBUYISENI QUINTIN NDLOZI (National Spokesperson)

Website: http://www.effonline.org
Email: communications@effonline.org
Facebook: Economic Freedom Fighters || Twitter: @EFFSouthAfrica and
@MbuyiseniNdlozi