We will no longer vote with the DA, ANC in municipalities across the country, says Malema
2 July 2019
The EFF has taken a decision to no longer vote with the DA and ANC in municipalities across the country.
"We are no longer voting with the DA in all municipalities and we will not vote with the ANC. We will participate in debates. However, we will not vote," the party's leader, Julius Malema, said on Tuesday during a media briefing in Johannesburg.
He admitted that the DA had refused to "share" power with the EFF, which would see the party take over the mayorship of Pretoria, with some party members being appointed as members of the mayoral committee.
"They refused with their votes, they don't want to vote for us, but they want us to vote for them," said Malema when asked about his party's recent decision.
"We cannot keep on voting for people who don't vote for us," he added.
The EFF leader had been gunning for Tshwane for most of the year, believing that after the May 2019 elections, political parties would return to the negotiation table to discuss how to share power at local level.
On Tuesday, he said the troubled municipality, which is under DA control, was in the red and that the EFF would have provided proper governance for the capital city.
'We will expose corruption '
Malema added that the EFF would return to its role as an opposition party in the council.
"We represent the black majority, we will expose corruption, will expose maladministration, where service delivery is not happening, if it's not happening to our expectations that's the role of the opposition party, that's the most we can do. We are not elected."
Malema said the demand for the party to oversee the interests of the black majority when not elected into power was unreasonable.
"We said we will be the government in June, that's the ultimatum we gave the DA. It said no, we are not prepared," he added.
The DA won control of the municipality from the ANC in 2016 through a coalition with smaller parties and the EFF's vote in council.
Malema said power sharing meant a give and take and the DA was not willing to do that.
Praise for Mashaba
While he washed the EFF's hands off the second largest party in the country, he praised City of Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba.
"Mashaba is a good guy, we even said we could have him as an EFF mayor, we won't mind," said Malema who added that the situation in Johannesburg was the same as in Tshwane.
He told journalists that Mashaba's anti-political approach could be a lesson for them.
Mashaba is a successful businessman who contested Johannesburg on behalf of the ANC without any political background.
The DA said in a statement that it had noted Malema's comments.
"It is unfortunate that the EFF has taken this stance at the expense of the millions of South Africans who voted for change in the 2016 municipal elections," its federal executive chairperson, James Selfe, added.
"Our arrangement with the EFF, specifically in municipalities in which no party had a majority, has worked well. We have engaged with the EFF and have enjoyed a harmonious relationship with its councillors on a local level."
He said the DA and EFF have been able to interdict the wide-spread corruption that characterised the ANC administrations prior to 2016, and have transformed these governments at local level.
