Malema tells Ramaphosa ‘we need to plan your democratic removal immediately’

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has joined the long list of South Africans who have called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to announce this year’s election date.

The term of office of the current legislatures will end in May 2024. According to the Constitution, the country must have an election within 90 days of the expiry of the legislatures’ terms – this is between May and August 2024.

ALSO READ: IEC seeks to finalise preparations as Ramaphosa urged to announce 2024 election date

While there is an expectation for the election to be held in May, as per the last two elections, Ramaphosa, who is yet to announce the date, has received criticism for the delay.

Some parties have already raised concerns about the delay in announcing the date, saying this prejudiced their election campaign preparations.

Political analysts and political leaders reckon the African National Congress (ANC) will witness its lowest decline, with Malema having said the party had reached its lifespan.

“Mhlekazi Cyril Ramaphosa, announce the election date now so that we can plan your democratic removal effectively and immediately,” said Malema on Tuesday.

Malema has been calling for Ramaphosa’s head since news of the Phala Phala scandal broke out.

“Nobody in his good state of mind can even think of electing Ramaphosa for second term. He has done nothing right since he became president,” said Malema.

ALSO READ: ‘Sise kakeng’: Malema says ‘money laundering chief’ Ramaphosa’s soul is gone

“Corruption is so high people are tired of banking their money in the bank, but save it in the mattress. When they find out other tsotsis stole from them, they don’t go to the police but go to other tsotsis to go after the tsotsis who stole from them. This is how gangsters work and this is what we saw there,” he told an EFF gathering.

“Even Zuma himself, the man we thought was worse, would never take police to go after people who stole his goats or cattle. How do you have such a person in the highest office? Our call for Ramaphosa to go is based on what is expected morally and ethically of a president.”

Malema further called on fighters to build the EFF in preparation of the ANC’s imminent death.

ALSO READ: Even Zuma wouldn’t do what Ramaphosa did with Phala Phala ‘tsotsis’, says Malema

“Whether there is EFF or not, ANC is bound to die a natural death. History has taught us liberation movements have a life span of 30 years, so you don’t have to kill the ANC, it will eat itself to death,” he said.

Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni has previously defended the delay and said Ramaphosa would announce the date once “the necessary processes have concluded”.

“The Constitution leaves strictly between the president and the IEC [Electoral Commission of South Africa] that they must consult each other, and the president must then determine the election date,” she said during a media briefing.

“That election date, there is a prescribed period in terms of our laws to say it must be within which timeframe after the last elections were held. So we don’t want the president in trouble of violating his oath of office or Cabinet influencing his decision to determine the election date [which] remains the sole prerogative of the president.”

ALSO READ: ‘Give the president time and space’ – Ntshavheni says SA must not rush for election date