Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has lashed out at his long-time nemesis, former president Jacob Zuma who now leads the uMkhonto weSizwe political party.
Malema and Zuma became cordial as Malema empathised with Zuma when the former head of State faced legal woes for defying the Constitutional Court’s judgment ordering him to appear before the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture headed by Justice Raymond Zondo.
The cordial relations have ceased after several high-level EFF members including Malema’s long-time deputy and confidante Floyd Shivambu defected to Zuma’s party where he has been appointed secretary-general.
Addressing the Gauteng provincial assembly, Malema tore into Zuma, insisting that the EFF is not going to fall.
“Why would you want to close the EFF for a spaza shop with expired food? This movement, with such a huge infrastructure, with an office owned by this organisation, with farms belonging to this organisation, with members belonging to this organisation, with houses build for ordinary people by this organisation, with students who were taken to school by this organisation.
“You wake up one morning and say to all those children, the organisation you committed that when you grow up you are going to vote for is no more. We would have sold the future generation. We are not going to sell the future generation for the dreams of an 82-year-old man who is corrupt to the core,” said Malema.
“Comrades, we are going to fight corruption during Zuma, even after Zuma. Zuma is corrupt. We were not misled about the corruption of Zuma. Cyril Ramaphosa is corrupt. We are not misled about the corruption of Cyril Ramaphosa.”
Malema said his party was the only political party championing the unity of Africans, which Zuma had failed to do when he had the power and opportunity.
“How do you say you can unite people when you are 82-years-old, when you failed to unite them for the past 82 years. You think you can do it now? The unity we are talking about is not a lip service, it is not something used to mobilise people for the sake of positions,” Malema charged.
“We need this unity of Africans in practical terms. That is why we are the only organisation that has EFF Nigeria, EFF Ghana, EFF Liberia, EFF Namibia, EFF Lesotho, EFF in the diaspora.”
The defections hitting the EFF are the latest setback after the red berets suffered a major blow in the May 29 general election. The Malema-led outfit was hoping to rise from being South Africa’s third biggest party to second, but the party dropped to become the fourth biggest party.
IOL