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Tweet encouraging attacks on ‘racist farms’ not by Julius Malema

A screenshot of a tweet supposedly by Julius Malema, leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), South Africa’s second-largest opposition party, has been posted on Facebook.

It reads: “These racist farms must be expropriated without compensation! Let us attack fighters. Where we meet the enemy, we must crush the enemy. When the enemy raises its ugly head, don’t hit the head, cut the head.” It is dated 25 October 2020. 

The EFF has previously been vocal about the expropriation of land without compensation. But there’s no evidence Malema has encouraged EFF “fighters” to attack “racist farms”. 



No such tweet on Malema’s timeline


While the username, handle and even the profile picture in the screenshot are the same as those on Malema’s verified Twitter account, his tweets from 25 October 2020 do not include anything about “racist farms” or expropriation without compensation. 

An advanced Twitter search shows that the last time Malema tweeted about farms was in August 2015. And the last time he included the word “enemy” in a tweet was in June 2019.

Given the boldness of the tweet, it is safe to assume that if it were real, it would have been widely reported in the media. But it wasn’t. The tweet is fake, likely created with an online tweet generator. – Africa Check




 

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