Malema dares Ramaphosa to personally deny offering him a Cabinet position

Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema has dared President Cyril Ramaphosa to personally deny offering him and his deputy Floyd Shivambu Cabinet positions.

Addressing a crowd during his party’s rally at Orlando Stadium on Sunday, Malema said he never  claimed the Presidency had offered him a position, but Ramaphosa.

He said: “I told you that Ramaphosa offered me and Floyd Shivambu positions in Cabinet when he started as a president and we said no. Now I heard a story that the Presidency says there has never been such a thing. I never said the Presidency promised us, I said Ramaphosa. Let Ramaphosa answer this one, not the Presidency. Let him answer and lie, he will know me well.

“Why would I go around saying Ramaphosa has offered us Cabinet posts when he has not done so? We said no, we don’t want positions, we’re not in this for ourselves. We’re not in this thing to serve ourselves and our families, we’re here to serve an African child. If we serve in Cabinet, it will not be through Ramaphosa’s favour, it will be through the EFF’s performance in the election. We don’t want favour of anyone.”

Presidency spokesperson Khusela Diko had told News24 on Friday that Ramaphosa did not make such offers to the EFF leadership.

She was quoted as saying: “The utterances of the leader of the EFF claiming to have been offered a Cabinet position are utter fabrication, peddled for reasons known only to those who spread them. The president made no such offer to the EFF and thus, we reject the statement made earlier today (Friday).”

Malema claimed in an interview with Power FM on Friday that Ramaphosa had offered him a Cabinet position. He said he was in a meeting with Shivambu and the president when the offer was made, though the two ha turned it down.

Malema said the president may have made the offers as a way of silencing the EFF in parliament.

He said: “There was an offer when Ramaphosa came that we can serve in his Cabinet and we said we’re not available to serve under the ANC Cabinet. We had a meeting with president Ramaphosa where the offer was made, and we said no. There was no specific position that was offered but [a deputy ministry was offered].

“We were in a meeting, the three of us, me, him and Shivambu, and we said that he must be given a chance to lead, he must do his own thing, we will assess after if indeed he is a good leader. We don’t want to to be part of his Cabinet. I know Cyril for who he is, he is a negotiator; he was trying to take chances for the sake of peace perhaps in parliament, but also for the liquidation of the EFF because I’ve seen how they liquidated Azapo. I was there.”

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