AFRICANGLOBE : Nov 7, 2016

The leader of a South African opposition party Monday threatened to seize white-owned lands.

Julius Malema, the head of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the third largest party in parliament, spoke to supporters after appearing in court in the northeastern city of Newcastle.

‘‘White minorities be warned! We shall take our land. It doesn’t matter how,” said Julius Malema outside the magistrate’s court.

Malema was appearing in court to answer to charges of inciting his supporters to take over white-owned land. His case has been postponed to Dec. 7.

In 2016, he reportedly told supporters that whites could not claim ownership of land in South Africa because it belonged to native Africans.

During his televised address on Monday, Malema claimed that white South African settlers had killed hundreds of Blacks who had refused to be removed from their land.

‘‘We are not calling for the slaughtering of white people at least for now,’’ he said amid cheers from his supporters.

Land is a highly contentious subject in South Africa 22 years after the end the racial segregation known as apartheid.

Malema said South Africa’s economy was still controlled by white capitalists despite the end of apartheid.

His EFF, which broke away from the ruling African National Congress, has been championing for land expropriation without compensation.

AfriForum, a white supremacist organization representing the country’s white minority, has on several occasions condemned Malema’s comments accusing him of inciting hatred against whites.