Julius Malema. File photo M&G
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has branded Jacob Zuma corrupt, despite the exodus of party members to the Umkhonto Wisizwe (MK) party. Regardless, he said he was on “very good terms” with the former president.
“Me and President Zuma have a very good relationship. Similarly, I and President Ramaphosa have a very good relationship. But just because he is corrupt doesn't mean I say he is corrupt. It will not stop us,” Malema said at a press conference on Monday ahead of the EFF's third National People's Congress next month.
The new party leadership will be elected at a conference to be held at Nasrec in Johannesburg from December 12 to 15, and Mr Malema is expected to run for president again.
Despite their long history in public life, Mr Zuma and Mr Malema appear to have found common ground ahead of the May 29 general election.
After Malema was expelled from the ANC under Zuma's watch, he formed the EFF and fought Zuma in parliament over corruption allegations, accusing the then president of irregularly spending state funds to renovate his home in Nkandla. campaigned for repayment.
Although there was some thaw, relations between the two sides cooled again with the departure of prominent EFF leaders to Zuma's MK party. These include former vice president Floyd Shivambu and former chairman Dali Mpofu.
On Monday, Malema said he was not a “pusher” and would not allow anyone to push him because of any relationship. He said that's why he was “hated.”
“If my wife can't push me down, why would President Zuma push me down?” For what? What am I going to ask him to do that I didn't ask him to do? [from] Who was he when I was in the ANC, when I was in the youth league? ” Malema said.
“It cannot be because we are civil to President Zuma. So when we are civil to him, we can disagree with him and he is You have to allow yourself to be pushed through. Not me.”
Malema said there was no formal relationship between the two parties, even though the EFF and MK formed a progressive parliamentary group in opposition to the National Accord government after the election. He said MK's program to recruit leaders from the Red Berets had soured the deal.
“Tomorrow, we will march to the Constitutional Court with everyone except the MKP. The MKP will not join our march. If they want to march, they will have to organize their own march. We cannot join them – this is our march,” he said.
“Others who have opposed Farah Farah can join the EFF march from Mary Fitzgerald Square to the Constitutional Court tomorrow.”
On Tuesday, the Constitutional Court is scheduled to hear the EFF's application to reopen the impeachment inquiry against Mr Ramaphosa over the circumstances surrounding the theft of foreign currency from the Phala Phala hunting farm in Limpopo.
In 2022, Parliament announced that an independent committee chaired by former Supreme Court Justice Sandile Ngcobo concluded that President Ramaphosa may have violated the constitution and must be held accountable for his response to the Phala-Fala issue. rejected the committee's report. The ANC majority in Parliament at the time voted overwhelmingly to reject the findings of the Ngcobo Commission.
In its founding affidavit filed in mid-February, the EFF argued that the facts and parliamentary rules leave no room for respite for Mr Ramaphosa and that parliament's rejection of the report was unreasonable.
On Monday, Malema denied claims that the party had barred Mbuyiseni Ndlozi from next month's conference and barred delegates from accepting nominations for positions that might support him.
“I don’t know what you want me to answer about Ndlozi because I haven’t said anything about Ndlozi. So I want you to bring your dirty gossip to me and embellish the discussion about toilets. Don't think, I'm not one of them,'' Malema said.
