‘We influenced the DA from behind’: Malema says EFF put opposition in power

In an interview with SABC News on Tuesday evening, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema discussed the party’s election campaign.

EFF election campaign

Malema said the EFF “didn’t sell out or betray the mandate that our people gave to us” five years ago. Instead, he said the EFF had influenced the Democratic Alliance (DA).

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Malema explained: “We are no longer in government. We could only fulfil it once the people we preferred to be in government were there.”

Watch: Julius Malema’s interview

He went on to say the EFF “had the preferred parties in government which depended on our vote to succeed. When that arrangement collapsed, we couldn’t implement [the mandate]”.

“We didn’t sell out or betray the mandate. It was an unfortunate turn of events where the government we had an influence on collapsed because of the internal dynamics of the DA.”

‘We put the DA in power’

When asked if he regretted the decision to “go into bed with the DA”, Malema said that was never the case.

No, no, we never went into bed with the DA. We put the DA in power and we could influence it from behind.

As an example, Malema said: “There is no DA policy to insource workers. It’s an EFF policy. There is no DA policy to open clinics in every ward within 24 hours. It’s an EFF policy.”

“Had the DA not have [sic] internal racist dynamics […] everything else would have been fulfilled”, Malema concluded.

EFF in Thabazimbi

Earlier this week, Malema said while South Africa was meant to belong to all who lived in it, most South Africans “have nothing to show that the land belongs” to them.

He said once the party took control of municipalities in Thabazimbi, the EFF wanted to teach white landowners “how to live with people”.

Malema said the party would “have a meeting” with white landowners in the region “to say if they want a good relationship with us, they must treat our people well”.

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Compiled by Cheryl Kahla.