ANC begs EFF MPs to participate in parly committee meetings, says Malema

EFF leader Julius Malema says the contributions of his party members in parliamentary committee meetings have not gone unnoticed by committee chairpersons from the ruling party, ANC, who, according to him, beg EFF MPs to attend these meeting because they can be relied on to make an impact.

Malema was speaking in an interview on Power FM, saying the most significant moments of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) since its inception have been its formation, its participation in the general elections of 2014 and its presence in parliament.

“[We] turned parliament around, turned the political landscape around, we disrupted it because it was more of a gentlemen’s club. You had to dress in a particular way, you had to speak in a particular way, you had to walk in a particular way, makeup had to be worn in a different way, and people were wearing different types of things, and debates were carried differently as well,” Malema said.

Watch EFF MPs walk out of parliament during Malusi Gigaba’s 2018 budget speech:

He said these three moments were noteworthy because they resulted in the EFF holding the country’s leaders accountable.

“When there was an attempt to protect them, we said no, you can’t do that, this is what parliament must do and look at parliament today, everybody is very scared of parliament, people shake when they are being called to parliament, both in the executive and even in the private sector,” Malema said.

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The key portfolio committees in parliament the EFF felt it was necessary to be a part of were finance, minerals, communications, health and education, the party’s leader said.

“We’ve got members who are serving on two committees, and we have said to them they must participate, they must make sure they are present, and they must make a qualitative input so that they can be felt, and when they are not in the committee, the chairperson of the committee should feel like I wish they were here because chairpersons of committees of the ANC will even call members of the EFF and beg them that, please, you must come because such and such institution is coming to parliament, such an issue is being debated in parliament,” Malema said.

He said had his organisation followed the conventional rules of parliament, it would have paled into insignificance.

The firebrand leader said his party had chosen its parliamentary garb to set itself apart from all the other members of the House.

“You know what makes DA different because they are white, so you can see this is DA, so if you don’t go and present yourself differently, you are going to be clubbed with these crooks of the ANC,” he said.

Malema said the party’s dress code in parliament contributed to how people paid attention to the EFF’s Delisile Ngwenya during the Sona debate.

Watch Ngwenya’s Sona speech below:

“The EFF is benefiting from its members. The first question was not who is this one, which party is she from, that part was very clear, she’s from the EFF, so you don’t disappear,” he said.

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