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EFF leader Julius Malema expressed his puzzlement over the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) appealing a judgment to allow former president Jacob Zuma’ on the candidates' list, calling the move “very personal”.
He said that through the numerous cases, the IEC was allowing Zuma to hold rallies outside courts after every appearance.
Malema was speaking on a wide range of issues at a brunch engagement in Sandton on Friday.
He said:
He said it was the first time that he saw Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, who was representing the IEC, struggling in court simply because there was “no case.”
Umkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) had challenged the interpretation of Section 47, which sets the conditions under which a convicted citizen may not take public office.
READ: Julius Malema courts Jacob Zuma, and criticises Mandela
The Electoral Court ruled that Zuma would remain on the parliamentary list, setting aside the commission’s decision to uphold an objection against Zuma’s participation.
However, the IEC is taking the matter to the Constitutional Court, seeking clarity.
IEC Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo explained that the Commission’s appeal was not intended to involve itself in the political field of play, but was rather to ensure free and fair elections by ensuring that applicable constitutional provisions relating to elections were clearly understood by all roleplayers, and applied evenly.
Turning to the judiciary, Malema said that Chief Justice Raymond Zondo made a statement that the ANC made a good decision in 2017 to elect President Cyril Ramaphosa as the president of the country.
He said:
He said Zondo was commenting about politics in South Africa, where internal political parties were involved, but there was no discipline against him.
READ: Ramaphosa says EFF is free to challenge Phala Phala report in ConCourt
Malema added that the Phala Phala scandal would not go away because there was a case that was opened by Arthur Fraser, a former civil servant and intelligence operative who was head of the State Security Agency from 2016 to 2018.
He decried the fact that people wanted him to speak about the VBS mutual bank scandal where money was stolen, leading to the collapse of the bank.
“Give me a case number against me on VBS,” he said, adding that this was all caused by political agenda.
In 2018, VBS was declared insolvent and bankrupt and placed under curatorship, with SA citizens and taxpayers defrauded out of roughly R2 billion.
The VBS scandal had implicated ANC municipal officials, and media reports implicated EFF leaders Malema and Floyd Shivambu as either directly or indirectly benefiting from the looting of the bank.
Malema and Shivambu denied any wrongdoing, with Malema describing the reports about his financial links to the bank and prolific use of an alleged “slush fund” as part of a “political war” against him.
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Malema said that when EFF gets into power, they will “unashamedly” practise cadre deployments, but the men and women appointed must be suitable for the job.
“Not because they can sing slogans for the EFF.”
Malema said they would still have Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor under the leadership of the EFF because she was good at what she was doing.
“She doesn’t have to be an EFF member,” he said, adding that as long as she was loyal to the Constitution and was a South African citizen.
Malema said as part of the campaign where the EFF never had a strong presence, they were visiting minority areas to engage with communities in town halls before the 29 May general elections.
He said they were holding weekly meetings where members reported on how many people they had spoken to in a community.
Malema added that they were open to talking about coalitions with other political parties, including the ANC, especially parties that addressed the issue of land.
