Black First Land First

Andile Mngxitama served as an EFF member of parliament after the party won 25 seats in the 2014 general election, the first elections ever contested by the EFF after their founding the previous year. Mngxitama became unhappy with EFF leadership after its inaugural elective conference in December 2014. He accused EFF leadership, and in particular its founder Julius Malema, of having the "same tendencies as the ANC", a party that Malema had been expelled from in 2012.[7][8] These accusations caused a rift in the EFF, a rift that widened in February 2015 when the two sides "came to blows" following accusations that Malema had made a deal with the ANC to help get Mngxitama and his sympathisers out of parliament.[9] Mngxitama and two of his comrades, Mpho Ramakatsa and Khanyisile Litchfield-Tshabalala, were expelled in April.[10]

Mngxitama was perturbed by this development, and condemned the EFF of being a "watered-down version of the ANC".[7] His main policy disagreement was the EFF's abandonment of his ideas of land reform, the "principle of expropriation without compensation" of white-owned land. This had always been an essential issue for Mngxitama, who had voiced his opinion to no avail during his tenure on the parliamentary Committee on Rural Development and Land Reform.[11] He accused Malema of "selling out" on the issue, labelling him a "revisionist".[12] This stated commitment to radical land reform would become the selling point of the Black First Land First manifesto.[13]

In 2016-2017, after accusing the EFF of having the same tendencies as the ruling ANC, BLF came out in support of former ANC and South African President Jacob Zuma, who has faced numerous corruption charges. BLF have also shown support for the controversial Gupta family, who have been widely accused of "capturing" the South African state through their dealings with Zuma.[14][15] Questions have been asked to what extent the Guptas have been funding Andile Mngxitama and BLF, and whether the Guptas intended to use BLF to escalate racial tensions in order to distract from their controversial activities.[16][17][18]

In August 2017, Mngxitama exhorted the South African Reserve Bank to seize white farms and to initiate the formation of a black bank.[19]

In July 2017, e-mails surfaced suggesting that Mngxitama received instructions from the Gupta family and their contracted PR company Bell Pottinger.[20][21] Bell Pottinger was subsequently suspended by the British Public Relations and Communications Association for "exploiting and creating racial divisions in South Africa" for five years.[22]

In its "Revolutionary Call" released on 13 August 2015, BLF notes that, "[w]ithout land there is no freedom or dignity. We want Land First because it is the basis of our freedom, our identity, our spiritual well-being, our economic development and culture. The land of Africans was stolen and this theft has rendered us landless in our own land. We want all the land with all of its endowments on its surface together with all the fortunes underground as well as the sky. All of it belongs to us! We are a people crying for our stolen land! Now we have decided to get it back by any means necessary" SCI: "By any means necessary means without regard to famine, bloodshed or deteriorating as Zimbabwe did as our spiritual well-being demands it".

Founder Mngxitama also made it clear that BLF has a policy called "Code of dealing with house negroes and sell outs".[23][24] This is a ten-point code touted as a guide for party members to defend black people they differ with who come under attack from white supremacy.[25]

The logo of the Black First Land First (BLF) movement is the Sankofa Bird, forming part of a clenched black fist, with the base forming a fountain pen. The Sankofa Bird is a symbol for understanding a people engaged in the struggle for freedom through the power of revolutionary historical lessons. In this regard, the Sankofa bird, while looking backwards, flies forward with an egg in its mouth. The clenched black fist symbolises Black Power, and the fountain pen signifies the importance of revolutionary theory as a guide to action in the revolutionary struggle.[26] At the centre of the Sankofa's wing is the five pointed red star. The five-pointed red star symbolises socialism and the blood of blacks whose lives were lost through the anti-blackness of white supremacy. Moreover, the five points of the star represent the five continents and hence an internationalist outlook in pursuit of the total freedom of all the oppressed peoples of the world. The circle is coloured in green to signify the Land and all the minerals beneath it that must be returned to the people. The circle itself, with its red outer and black inner boundary lines, serves to protect the people engaged in revolution.

According to its Constitution,[27] The BLF operates under the Leninist party organisational structure known as democratic centralism.[lower-alpha 1] There are 4 chief organs of the party, arranged in the following hierarchy:[lower-alpha 2]

1. The National Imbizo which elects the National Coordinating Committee
2. The Provincial Imbizo which elects the Provincial Coordinating Committee
3. The Regional Imbizo which elects the Regional Coordinating Committee
4. The Branch Biennial General Imbizo which elects the Branch Coordinating Committee

The National Imbizo, as the supreme ruling body, will convene at least once every 5 years. It is responsible for electing the members of the National Coordinating Committee (NCC) including the Secretary General.[lower-alpha 3] This is very similar to the relationship between the Party Congress and the Central Committee in Marxist-Leninist parties. The BLF Constitution mandates the 50% of the seats in both the NCC and its subcommittee, the Central Committee (CC), be occupied by women.[lower-alpha 4] The lower level Imbizos and Coordinating Committees function in a similar fashion.[lower-alpha 5]

Mngxitama has stated that the party's core ideologies are Black Consciousness and Pan-Africanism with a Sankarist leadership ethos.[28][29] BLF describes itself as a "vanguard organisation"; while it is not clear what BLF means by that,[30] the party believes that no revolution can take place without a vanguard organisation. The party was registered with the Independent Electoral Commission[31] and contested the 2019 elections but won no representation in parliament or the provincial legislatures. The party's registration was annulled on 15 July 2019.[32][33]

• Azania in modern usage

• Official website
• Black Opinion