EFF to launch campaign against insurance firms

BusinessDay

THE Economic Freedom Fighters has accused insurance companies of discriminating against HIV-positive people, saying it will campaign against them.

It also pledged to lead land occupations and take on mining companies for lack of development as part of its political programme this year.

On Tuesday, after its first central command team meeting, leader Julius Malema also criticised President Jacob Zuma’s January 8 policy statement.

He said a campaign against insurance companies’ policies testing people for HIV before offering cover is expected to be launched later this year and will form part of "rolling mass action" against the broader financial sector, including banks.

"Who says an HIV-positive person will die tomorrow? Why not test for flu because someone with flu can also die tomorrow," Mr Malema said. He said the law also allowed for banks to unfairly repossess people’s properties when they have missed only a single payment.

Spokeswoman for the Financial Services Board Tembisa Marele said she was not in a position to comment on the treatment of HIV-positive people because she did not have sufficient information.

At its national people’s assembly in December last year, where new leaders were elected and party policy proposals refined, the EFF launched a campaign for people without land to occupy vacant land without permission.

Mr Malema said on Tuesday the establishment of a solidarity fund to assist those arrested for occupying vacant land was still in progress. Citing Soweto as an example, Mr Malema said there was precedent for land occupation in SA.

"There are settlements that are recognised today even though they started as illegal occupations." Mr Malema said the EFF was going to lead people to occupy the vacant land and President Zuma "will pay" because he committed his party to doing so during his speech, saying that the African National Congress (ANC) will pay for expropriated land — prompting chuckles from people at the briefing.

EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu said the ANC was blaming apartheid for Eskom’s lack of electricity generation and load shedding when the problem was the lack of "forward thinking and planning" within the government.

Mr Shivambu said the ANC should have foreseen in 1994 that demand would grow as a result of population growth and more people getting access to electricity. Blaming apartheid was a "decoy" intended to "shift the focus" away from the irresponsibility of government, he said.

Mr Malema said apartheid was not there when the ANC decided on building the new Medupi and Kusile power stations. "It cannot be responsible for the delays." He said the ANC’s promise in 1994 that it was "ready to govern" also meant that it was prepared to deliver electricity. "It even produced documents justifying its readiness before 1994," Mr Malema said.

Mr Malema was also unapologetic about their controversial plans to interrupt Mr Zuma during the upcoming state of the nation address on February 12 in Parliament.

He said the EFF demanded that Mr Zuma pay back the state funds used to build nonsecurity items at his private residence in Nkandla in Northern KwaZulu-Natal. "For the first time in the history of this nation something different is going to happen ," Mr Malema said. "We are going to stand up and demand that before the president speaks he must answer the question (on paying back the money)."