Julius Malema at TouchHD. Picture: Twitter/EFF
EFF leader Julius Malema said it was certain that the ANC would not govern Gauteng after next year’s national and provincial elections.
He said that prediction was based on the fact that the ruling party lost the major metropolitan councils of Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg and Mogale City (which he conceded was not a metro) in the outcome of the local government elections in 2016.
“So Gauteng is gone, the patronage of the ANC in Gauteng is gone. They say there is a Ramaphoria when they explain the Ramaphosa euphoria that Ramaphosa will change things, but Ramaphosa was there when the ANC lost the metros. Ramaphosa doesn’t come from a lucky packet, so what is it that he is going to do differently?
“The good thing with Gauteng people is that they know English, they don’t need interpretation, they don’t need translation, they hear everything that is said, and no one can distort it. That’s why this urban area is in a position to reject the ANC propaganda because they can hear and they can analyse on their own and make a decision,” he said.
Malema was speaking on Touch HD, where he shared comments on a number of issues, including land expropriation, black people in farming and agricultural businesses and the introduction of free education.
On expropriation of land without compensation, a motion he tabled in parliament this week, he said once the land had been expropriated, beneficiaries of that land should work it and the state should provide those people with the necessary tools and skills to work the land.
READ MORE: Parliament votes ‘yes’ on expropriation of land without compensation
He added that an invitation should be extended to countries that have succeeded in the agricultural sector so those countries would share their skills and knowledge with South Africa.
Malema said a state-owned bank was necessary to provide financial services to South Africans “because commercial banks support white businesses only, corporate South Africa, generally, supports white businesses only”.
He further said that major retailers did not conduct business with black farmers and questioned why the country’s government did not create a market for black farmers to supply the state.
“We ought to have, from a government point of view, a system of how to identify markets for these people, if we can’t identify markets for them, we [the state] have to go and take those things and sell them ourselves,” Malema said.
The EFF leader said racism needed to be confronted, adding that “there are white people who are human beings who have done away with whiteness, who are saying they want to fit in, they want to contribute”.
He added his organisation welcomed people of any race into its ranks, but that white people should be aware that the party was robust on race issues.
Malema said the onus was on black entrepreneurs to advance and grow black-owned businesses by ensuring that they procure and conduct business with other black-owned businesses.
On fee-free tertiary education, he said the introduction of free education was there to get rid of the “loan shark” that is Nsfas.
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