Blood won’t make an EFF government, only a cross will - Malema warns against violence
EFF leader Julius Malema has put out an emphatic plea calling for tolerance among political parties ahead of the general elections set to take place in May.
Malema wrapped up the EFF’s 2019 elections manifesto launch cautioning his own members against using violence as they traverse the country to spread the word from their little red manifesto booklet, which was handed out in hard copy and distributed via social media and online.
"There must be no violence anywhere because of elections," said an impassioned Malema.
"Blood won’t make EFF government, only a cross," he continued.
Ahead of that he highlighted the "commitments" the EFF would see implement, should South Africa’s voting electorate put its faith in the red berets.
Malema also used the opportunity to touch on some of the current developments unfolding in the country.
He said his party would pay special attention to the protection and the independence of the Public Protector, the Auditor-General and all other corruption monitoring institutions to independently oversee government programmes.
Malema, commenting on the new National Director of Public Prosecutions Shamila Batohi, who marked her first day in office on Friday, expressed distrust in her ability to act independently and suggested she was linked to Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan.
"I don’t think they were helping anything there, they were appointing her to protect the crimes of Pravin Gordhan and the cabal which is aligned with Pravin Gordhan and Cyril Ramaphosa," suggested Malema.
He said an EFF government would appoint an independent head of public prosecutions, warning his own that the party would take harsh steps to deal with them if they were ever found to have stolen from taxpayers, including taking their pension funds and throwing them into jail.
“When you steal as an EFF member you embarrass us and make us look like the thieves in the ANC,” said Malema.
On the SABC and Eskom, Malema spoke of a need to strengthen the two, suggesting that several methods should be considered when it came to assisting the electricity provider find its footing, all the while rejecting the idea of independent power producers.
"When we take over we will strengthen all types of methods to generate energy, even nuclear. Not (Jacob) Zuma's one of theft, proper nuclear energy which will not cripple the economy of South Africa," said Malema.
"If it's expensive we’ll do it bit by bit until we find an alternative," he said.
Some of the big plans set out by the EFF will rely on benefaction of the country’s minerals and a sovereign wealth fund, which would see the party’s government investing its money in numerous projects around the globe in order to finance free schooling and housing.
Malema, of course, did not leave out the media. The EFF commander-in-chief and his party has been at odds with members of the media, with the party’s leader even expressing a desire to no longer have certain publications at its events.
A number of journalists have been harassed on social media and even confronted in person after some of the EFF's inflammatory comments.
On Saturday, Malema said journalists should not descend into the arena of politics and if they did so they needed to realise they became politicians,
He said an EFF government would not call for the media to be regulated.
"Report whichever way you want, whether you are telling the truth or lying, that’s your business. Our people know their leaders," said Malema.
He called on journalists to stop being "praise singers for politicians."
"Abandon politicians and come back to journalism," said Malema.
Malema said the red berets would have no issue with the media reporting on his party but would call out journalists who lied.
"When you don’t have the facts don’t write, don’t write for the sake of writing," he warned, saying this often destroyed lives.
"Media freedom under EFF will be guaranteed," he said.
The leader encouraged his supporters to wear red every Friday in preparation of their victory at the polls.
No premier candidates for EFF - Malema
The Economic Freedom Fighters, should the party receive a mandate from South Africa's electorate, would push to have the Constitution amended - but not to expropriate land without compensation as the party is known to want, but rather to do away with provinces.
Its leader Julius Malema, speaking at the Giant Stadium in Soshanguve, where the EFF launched its 2019 national elections manifesto on Saturday, said the party no longer wanted provinces.
"We are from South Africa, we are from Africa, we are one thing," said Malema.
He put forward a view questioning the existence of nine separate provinces, an idea often toyed with by the ANC, which is the governing party.
Malema then told the crowd which had packed the 18 000-seater stadium that there would be no premier candidates from his party to contest the upcoming elections.
"This thing of provinces is the one that leads to tribalism; in Limpopo you already know it's the Pedi, [Xitsonga] and Venda; in KwaZulu-Natal, the Zulu; and in the Eastern Cape the Xhosa."
Speculation in and around the EFF had been that the party would pitch its provincial chairperson Mandisa Mashego to lead Gauteng, which is set to be one of the most fiercely contested provinces in the upcoming polls.
But Malema dismissed this notion.
"We don't believe in provinces we are not going to have premier candidates in the EFF," said Malema.
"There is only one head of the election campaign and that is the president of the EFF," he added.
Malema said the party wanted to only have national and local government structures, with local government receiving a bulk of the budget, at 60%.
"From national straight to local, from local straight to your tap, your schools… changing your lives practically," said Malema.
Reduce voting age
The EFF also called for the voting age to be lowered to 16, arguing that South African law gave a 16-year-old the right to consent when it came to engaging in sex.
"Sex is worse that voting," he said.
Malema said if young people could pick and choose who they wanted to sleep with they should be able to pick the political party they wanted in charge.
"If they do, you know who will win... cause we are not an old age home," said Malema.
