EFF door is still open to DA for negotiations, says Malema

Despite being rejected by the Democratic Alliance (DA) in last year’s coalition talks in municipalities, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema says his party remains open to negotiations with the DA.

ANC and DA both ‘devils’

Addressing the media in Johannesburg on Tuesday, Malema described the ANC and DA as both “devils” but said the EFF preferred working with the official opposition party, instead of the ANC because they want to unseat it from power.

“Let the DA come to the party. We want to unseat the ANC at all costs but we can’t impose ourselves on the DA and we can’t keep on voting for the DA even when they’re insulting us,” Malema said.

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Following the hotly contested 2021 local government elections, the EFF gave its votes in hung councils to the DA, resulting in the election of the party’s mayoral candidates in Gauteng’s three metros of Tshwane, Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni.

This was despite the DA vowing not to enter into any coalition talks with the Red Berets after the disastrous coalitions that emerged after the 2016 municipal elections.

Malema said the EFF had managed to cobble up the support of smaller parties to vote for the DA’s mayoral candidates in hung metros, but the DA had displayed arrogance by rejecting the EFF and its support.

“The DA would have made a better devil [than the ANC], but the DA doesn’t want to work with us. Even when they said they don’t want us, we still voted for them.

“We voted for them, they get in, and they still continue to talk nonsense about us. They never stopped, they continue to talk absolute racist rubbish about us,” he said.

EFF door still open

The EFF leader said the DA should stop discounting his party as a major player in the country’s political landscape.

“We want to have an impact, we want to be influential [and] lead in those coalition municipalities. This thing of thinking that they could just leave us out like that as if we are no roleplayers, is not going to be accepted,” Malema said.

He added: “The DA must know that the EFF door is still open. If you want to achieve the strategic objectives of the revolution, you have to kiss a lot of frogs on the way in order for you to get where you want to.”

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