The EFF is too extreme to be trusted to govern South Africa

28 April 2016

Fellow South Africans,

Fellow Democrats,

The beautiful people of Limpopo,

It is an honour to speak to you today.

Very few people know this, but Limpopo is actually the province I was born in.

I still consider it my home in many ways.

It is here in Limpopo that I went to school.

It was here in Limpopo that I learnt how to read. I had to walk many kilometres a day and cross a river to get to school so that I could learn.

It was because I was brought up here, that I am who I am.

And it is because I was brought up here that I realised, as the years passed, that we needed real change, not the smallanyana change our people continue to experience.

It was because of what I saw here, and continue to see here today, that I knew South Africa was not going in the right direction.

We are being led by leaders who steal from the poor to make themselves rich.

Leaders who took tenders that were meant to help our people, and instead used it to help themselves.

So, democrats, it was because of Limpopo that I looked for a party that would bring change. The only party that can move our country forward again.

Yes, democrats. The DA, my home, is the only party left who can do this.

This past week we have seen exactly why.

Julius Malema, and the Economic Freedom Fighters he leads, called for violence to be used to remove the ANC.

Collen Maine and the ANYCL has also called for violence to be used against the EFF in return.

Malema, like Collen, wants to use weapons that injure, and destroy and kill ordinary people.

 He wants Nyala’s back in the streets, and people running for cover from stray bullets again.

He isn’t afraid that innocent South Africans may die in the process.

Because the truth is that Malema and the EFF do not care about the people. They stand up in Parliament and disrupt proceedings so they can put up a show, but when it comes down to it, the real Malema stands up.

This Malema is hungry for power. This Malema, will like the ANC, steal from the people all over again.

We shouldn’t be surprised, democrats.

In 2008, he said that the ANCYL would take up arms if the prosecution of Jacob Zuma continued. He wanted to help protect Zuma from having to answer for fraud and corruption.

This is the same man who dances in Parliament pretending like he wants to fight corruption.

O ka se mo tshepe! (They cannot be trusted)

We shouldn’t be surprised, democrats.

In 2009, he ridiculed the woman who accused Jacob Zuma of rape. This is something he should ashamed about. In a country where tens of thousands of women are raped, he made fun saying “in the morning she requested breakfast and taxi money.”

A tshepagali, o ka se ba tshepe! (They cannot be trusted)

Don’t be surprised, democrats, because it didn’t stop there. In 2010, he said that the voters and NOT the judges should decide on Jacob Zuma’s innocence on the corruption charges against him.

This is the same man who stood, without a hint of irony, outside the Constitutional Court saying that he likes the Constitution and Moegeng Moegeng.

O ka se mo tshepe! (They cannot be trusted)

This is a man and a party that wants white people and black people to hate each other.

This is a man who criticizes the father of our nation, Nelson Mandela, for bringing about reconciliation.

A man who doesn’t like uTata Madiba!

O ka se mo tshepe! (They cannot be trusted)

Unlike him, the DA is fully committed behind the reconciliation efforts of all South Africans. Because we South Africa to succeed, in all its diversity.

Democrats,

Malema and the EFF doesn’t care about you and me and the 8.2 million unemployed. He cares only about the money he can make when he is back in power.

That's what he and his former comrades in the ANC did when he was in power; stealing the money from the people.

Don’t be surprised when we say these things.

Because that is exactly what he did when he was linked to people in power.

In 2011, the City Press reported that a secret family trust of which Malema was the sole trustee existed. This allowed him to have mansions in Sandton, while tenders the companies he was linked to build bridges that collapsed.

Literally, collapsed.

Three of several bridges built by Malema’s company right here in Limpopo were washed away within weeks of their completion.

Democrats, those bridges were meant to be for you. To help the economy and create jobs. But they collapsed because a dodgy man did a dodgy deal so he could make a quick buck.

O ka se mo tshepe! (They cannot be trusted)

We must never forget what some in the EFF did when they were in the ANC. This bridge symbolizes the EFF that will govern if you vote for them. They will build bridges and roads that benefit a connected few. You cannot trust them.

They are no different from the ANC. They learnt it from the ANC. And now they want to govern again, so they can do it again.

But like their bridges, the EFF will be washed away too. Because the people of South Africa, of Limpopo, of Mogalakwena, want CHANGE and not more of the same.

They want to trust a government that will create jobs, deliver better services and stop corruption.

They want a party that will govern in a way that helps the people, not causes violence, hurt and pain.

Democrats,

The EFF, like the ANC they hate, cannot be trusted to govern and move our country forward again!

Vote DA on 3rd August.

Viva DA!

Issued by Makashule Gana, DA Shadow Minister of Human Settlement, 28 April 2016