Press Statement
02 October 2020
Parktonian Hotel
Braamfontein

Black First Land First (BLF) notes that our country right now is engulfed in a deep, moral, political, economic and leadership crisis. Our people are hungry and those in power don’t care, and act with arrogance and contempt. Corruption has become our daily bread as the friends and sponsors of the President are allowed to loot and his political enemies inside the ANC are hounded in show arrest to effect humiliation instead of justice. The judiciary is compromised as we see how openly biased it has become against those perceived to be the proponents of Radical Economic Transformation (RET), from the Public Protector to President Zuma. The Rule of Law is bended to be the rule of white monopoly capital (WMC). If you are black and perceived to be a threat to WMC, you are criminalized.

Our nation is watching in disbelief and shock at how human trafficking is endemic and how the politicians are either quiet or down right deny that our children and women are abducted and dissapeared into a dark world.

Mr Bheki Cele is not ashamed to tell all like Trump that human trafficking is fake news.

Right now over 3 million people have been added to the unemployment list. On the other hand, government is even playing games with the R35O relief and UIF.

We saw the disappearance of R500 billion of Covid-19 funds in 3 months into the pockets of the sponsors of the CR17 campaign.

We are a nation in deep trouble, that’s why we can’t afford to see some of our most important leaders in the faith community at war with each other.

War to the Enemy peace amongst blacks

BLF believes in the principle of “peace amongst blacks and war to the enemy”. This principle enjoins us to seek peace amongst blacks whenever there is conflict. We seek this peace with justice for the wronged.

Informed by the African dispute resolution process we encourage restorative justice instead of retribution. The wronged must be acknowledged and restitution realized.

BLF notes with concern the sustained public attacks on Prophet Bushiri by Prophet Mboro recently. It makes no difference what the source of the disagreements is, but these attacks only serve to divide and weaken the black independent ministry.

Prophet Mboro’s actions, whilst maybe informed by good intentions, unwittingly makes him an agent of white power that seeks to destroy the black Independent church.

It is no secret that the common enemy that both men of God face is the systemic attempt at taking over the black church. We saw recently how Ray McCauley tried to manipulate the commission responsible for religious affairs in his unholy quest to control the black church.

There is a drive to capture the independent black church by the white controlled establishment churches which are increasingly being abandoned by black people.

Black on black squabbles open the door for the enemy to enter and to do harm to black people. BLF takes black unity seriously.

In the attacks by prophet Mboro, xenophobic utterances have been made. Pastor Mboro has on several occasions called on Prophet Bushiri to go home.

At no stage has Prophet Mboro called for the Church of England and the Catholic Church to go back home. This is a concerning development that must be checked immediately.

BLF condems xenophobic statements aimed at stirring black-on-black hatred among Africans living in South Africa. We must find solutions to our differences without degenerating into the agenda of the enemy.

BLF furthermore notes that Prophet Bushiri is in South Africa legally and has not broken any immigration law. As such, calling for his deportation is purely an afrophobic statement. This is unfortunate.

We call on Prophet Mboro and Prophet Bushiri to turn their attention to help us fight WMC.

It’s WMC which controls every piece of wealth and land in this country. Prophet Mboro stands to gain nothing for blacks by going against fellow black people.

The two men of God together, united, are a powerful force that can help us fight the common enemy that has our land and wealth.

The black church has to show leadership and maturity. The first act towards such unity is the capacity to resolve issues amongst the church leadership through a process controlled by the church itself.

If the church has no dispute resolution mechanism to deal with difficult situations amongst the church leadership, how can it administer the needs of the flock?

Pastor Mboro must lead by example and show he is a man of God. In the same vein we expect Major 1 to do likewise.

The issues raised by Prophet Mboro need to be addressed in a genuine way, and not be used to grandstand and to attack other churches. There must be justice for the victims. The wronged must not be paraded in media spectacles.

BLF asks the Prophets to stop the public spats and go into deep meditation to find a godly way to deal with the concerns being raised.

We shall write letters to both Prophet Mboro and Prophet Bushiri asking that an alternative dispute resolution process be explored to address these matters.

As Africans we always have room to engage and resolve matters in a restorative way instead of seeking retribution. We have confidence that the two men of god would heed our humble counsel.

We say no to blacks on black violence. We say yes to black unity.

Response to the government’s land offer

BLF rejects the insult announced yesterday by the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Ms Thoko Didiza.

The government is not serious about addressing the land question. It’s almost five years now since there has been talk of Land Expropriation Without Compensation. That process has been stalled and the Minister is the head of the committee tasked with the land expropriation process.

The Minister is giving land which the state is not using. It’s the same old principle of reject land.

South Africa is a country of 123 million hectares of land. The government is offering leases with the option of buying only 700 000 hectares. That’s less than 1% of the land. But it’s also still driven by the ‘willing buyer, willing seller‘ process instead of elaborating the Land Expropriation Without Compensation model.

No we won’t buy back our land. We call on Minister Didiza to say what happened to the Land Expropriation Without Compensation process.

We reject this offer to sell us our land back. This stunt by Minister Didiza is nothing but a ploy to facilitate corruption by giving state land to friends.

We also call on Mayor Mzwandile Masina to stop evictions in Ekurhuleni. We call on the police to act on the case of unlawful evictions opened by BLF against Masina.

BLF will be announcing a program of action to address the national crisis to give our people hope. We hope all leaders will join us in the quest to find solutions that would address the plight of our nation.

In this vein, we hope to stand side by side with Prophets Bushiri and Mboro in service of black people.

This press statement was delivered by Andile Mngxitama, the President of BLF.