By Tinashe Sambiri
Zimbabwean opposition leader Linda Masarira has launched a scathing attack on South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, accusing him of betraying African interests to appease former U.S. President Donald Trump and other Western powers.
In a fiery statement released Friday titled Solidarity Statement with CIC Julius Malema and the People of South Africa on Land Reclamation, Masarira — who leads the Labour Economists and Afrikan Democrats (LEAD) party — pledged unwavering support for the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and its leader Julius Malema over their land reform stance.
“As Labour Economists and Afrikan Democrats (LEAD), we stand in resolute solidarity with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and Commander-in-Chief Julius Malema in their unapologetic stance on land expropriation without compensation,” said Masarira.
Taking direct aim at President Ramaphosa, Masarira accused him of siding with global interests to suppress legitimate African struggles. “The ongoing attempts by global powers and certain Western interests to police, ridicule, and interfere with sovereign African policy debates, especially those rooted in historical redress, reveal a deeply entrenched colonial mindset that refuses to accept the full emancipation of the African people,” she said.
Masarira warned that Ramaphosa’s government risked becoming an enabler of foreign domination. “The future of the continent cannot and must not be shaped by fear of backlash from former colonial masters or the comfort of compromised elites,” she declared.
Her remarks come amid heightened tensions in South Africa over the EFF’s renewed push for land reform and alleged international pressure to abandon the policy. Masarira insisted that resistance to land expropriation was rooted in racist and imperialist agendas.
“We echo the sentiments that no amount of foreign intelligence gossip, media manipulation, or diplomatic bullying should deter the legitimate aspirations of South Africans to reclaim what was stolen under violent settler colonialism,” she said. “The narrative of ‘white genocide’ is not only unsubstantiated but deliberately constructed to criminalize Black resistance and delegitimize African agency.”
Drawing parallels with Zimbabwe’s own controversial land reform program, Masarira said Zimbabweans understood the high cost of reclaiming ancestral land. “We know the price of reclaiming dignity. We also know that land is not just an economic asset. It is the heartbeat of identity, heritage, and sovereignty.”
Concluding her statement with a rallying cry, Masarira affirmed: “Land must return to its rightful custodians not for political expediency but for justice…
We affirm that land expropriation without compensation is not a crime. It is the correction of one. We salute CIC Julius Malema.”