Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema on Saturday said his party needs to do some “self-reflection” after it failed to grow in the 2024 elections.
With almost 99% of the votes counted, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) had the EFF’s share of the votes at 9.47% – down from the 10.8% it achieved in 2019.
“We have done some self-reflection,” Malema said at the IEC’s national results operations centre in Midrand.
The leader of the red berets conceded that the EFF lost votes to Jacob Zuma’s Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, but he also blamed the “negative sentiment” his party received from “racists” and South Africa’s media.
Malema won’t resign as EFF leader
Malema, however, refused to step down as EFF leader.
“I won’t do that. There is no panic. I am here. I am not going anywhere. I am in charge here. That must be very clear.
I am not going anywhere in terms of politics, health or age.
“Ours is a generational mission, we are not a popcorn party that pops and goes away,” he said.
MK party took votes from EFF
Malema acknowledged that his party lost votes because of the “commendable and decisive rise of the MK party that performed above the EFF in KZN and Mpumalanga”.
Malema said the EFF had previously benefitted from Jacob Zuma’s supporters after the former president left the ANC.
“They came to us, not in the form of membership, but in voting. They voted for the EFF. That is why the numbers of the EFF immediate after [2019 elections] shocked us, especially in KZN.
“Those people were never ours, they were Zuma’s people.”
He added that the EFF “are fine without Zuma’s people”.
“We are complete now; we’ve got our people. There is no borrowed vote.”
‘Ramaphosa made Zuma a hero’
He said he warned President Cyril Ramaphosa that he was “making Zuma a hero”.
“I told him, ‘You can’t do what you are doing [in relation to Zuma’s contempt of court conviction and sentencing], you are going to make him a hero. It is not explainable what you are arresting him for’.
“The July unrest should have told us that the man has some support somewhere, and start treating him with care.”
He added that “no one has gone to apologise for jailing Zuma”.
Coalitions
Malema said the EFF will wait for other parties to contact them about coalition discussions.
“We won’t call anyone to discuss coalitions, they must call us,” he said.
“If they want us, we are here. We are not going to disappear. Let’s talk. Out of these talks, the people of SA will benefit.”
Malema said he is happy to work with the MK party, as the two organizations “are relatives”.
“We will work with them. We will work with the ANC and them. We are not far from each other. We are one thing.
“If MK doesn’t want to work with the ANC nationally, and we work with the ANC nationally, there is nothing stopping us from working with MK in KZN, Gauteng, and Mpumalanga.
“There is no animosity between us and MK.”
ANC ‘will never grow’
Malema also took a dig at the ANC, which has lost a big chunk of support in the elections. On Saturday afternoon, the ANC had 40.24% of the votes.
He said the biggest loser in the elections is the ANC.
“Don’t try to be clever and shift that to the EFF. People lose the country or a province and you want to say the EFF has lost,” said Malema.
He also said the EFF wants to work with ANC, because “they’ll never grow”.
“If there is one party that we can work with, and we can work with properly, it is the ANC. The ANC, when compromised, is not arrogant. An ANC without majority does not recover from losing power.”
He said if there is an election in two years’ time, the ANC would only get 15%.
“After losing elections, they don’t put in any effort to change their attitude. Once you hear they have lost, you must know they will lose forever. That is why we would prefer them, because they will never grow.”
He suggested that parliament would be better off after the ANC lost its majority.
“From now on, parliament will take decisions on logic and sense, and not on entitlement of being the sole ruling party. Parliament will now be better positioned to be a true representative of our people and not a platform to protect the political elite of the ruling party.
“Over the last 30 years, the ANC has used its parliamentary majority to protect mediocrity and corruption,” he said.
‘Floyd Shivambu will be finance minister’
Malema said Floyd Shivambu should be finance minister if the EFF agrees to part of a national coalition.
“If [the coalition partners] agree, because he is the most qualified. None of the people they have put there have got a better understanding of the institution than Floyd.”
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