No to birds of the same feather, ActionSA and EFF

The EFF’s ruinous tendencies were on display during the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) interviews for the chief justice position.

It reduced the selection process to what the Helen Suzman Foundation called an abomination. What should have been a celebration of the nomination of South Africa’s first female chief justice was degraded by EFF leader Julius Malema and his former national chair, Dali Mpofu.

Nicole Fritz of the foundation declared: “The recommendation of Justice Maya as a result of a tainted, irrational, degraded process is no victory at all. Far from suggesting that women might take the helm of the judiciary on the
basis of merit and their own intrinsic worth, it perversely suggests that they can only do so as a result of a corrupted, debased process.”

Those who have had to endure the EFF at close quarters for years in parliament or councils were not surprised at the loutish tactics. Red tormentors have tried to intimidate businesses with xenophobic intent, demanding to count the numbers of foreign nationals employed by restaurants. Yet their bullying prompted no reaction from Saps, whose code of conduct enjoins officers to “uphold and protect the fundamental rights of every person”.

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Given the EFF’s appalling behaviour on multiple fronts, it might seem puzzling that any political party would hold a media briefing – shortly after the JSC debacle – to campaign on behalf of the red berets. But that’s what ActionSA did.

Except that both parties have xenophobic traits. ActionSA wants EFF councillors “to be elected as chairs of oversight committees in the metros”. Plural. They want such an arrangement to extend beyond Ekurhuleni. On Monday, DA leader John Steenhuisen again held the line against toenadering with the EFF.

“I have been very clear before, during and after the election that, following the hard lessons learnt in 2016, we would not be in any government arrangement with the EFF.”

ActionSA warned of the possible collapse of the coalition in Ekurhuleni if the EFF were not included. The DA holds 65 seats and ActionSA 15. It’s important for councillors and residents to know where the line is drawn. We shall not get into bed with the EFF, despite threats of collapse.

As Steenhuisen said: “We will govern to the best of our ability for five weeks, five months or five years but this will never be at all costs. It will always be according to our values and principles.”

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Of course we want to govern and get things done. But not at the whim of the EFF. In May 2019, when Herman Mashaba was nominally DA mayor – although the EFF claimed him as theirs – there were rumours that Johannesburg would soon have EFF members of the mayoral committee (MMCs).

I sent a message to then-leader Mmusi Maimane: “Please be advised that some councillors will resign if EFF MMCs are appointed in Johannesburg… The elevation of the EFF is not what we stood for, and not what our voters voted
for.”

That’s where I still stand. Not with the EFF.