By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
EFF leader Julius Malema has emphasised that the party has no coalition agreement with the Democratic Alliance (DA).
Malema addressed the media on Thursday following the outcomes of the inaugural council meetings across the country.
The EFF voted in support of the DA in all Gauteng metros – leaving the ANC out in the cold.
“Since when voting for someone is called a coalition, what political illiteracy is that when I vote for you then it’s a coalition? That’s too low, politically it is too low, it is not a coalition, it’s not true. Nowhere, even in the Oxford definition of the coalition, is defined the way you want to define it, there is no coalition – which coalition is going to work?
“The DA won municipalities, without any coalition deal it ends there and we voted against the ANC, we didn’t vote for DA, we voted against the ANC. It ends there.”
He said the EFF will remain in the opposition benches.
“We agree with that matric less DA’s leader John Steenhuisen, the DA owes EFF nothing, we don’t owe DA anything. We are not going to have any meeting with the DA in the next five years talking about how to manage municipalities, we are not going to any negotiations.
“We are not playing any role in any government of the DA, we are an opposition, that’s what our people voted us for, what more do you want us to do?We are opposition, and we are a very unique opposition that is not driven by the desire for power.”
With the ANC failing to obtain a majority to govern in hung metros, Malema claimed ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa did nothing to save the governing party from public embarrassment.
“Ramaphosa never bothered to talk to anyone because he thought he’s got this thing sealed. He was not worried about anything.”
Malema said Ramaphosa was not a skilled negotiator as others have described him. He said it was former president Jacob Zuma and suspended ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule who had ensured that the ANC retained control of eThekwini metro.
He claimed Deputy President David Mabuza even tried to negotiate with the EFF on coalitions, but the party snubbed him because he apparently has no power.
[The ANC’s] radical economic transformation forces are the ones who won eThekwini. They were fighting there. Where was CR17 [the of Ramaphosa’s campaign to become ANC president in 2017]? Where was the president of the ANC when all of this was happening?”
While the EFF voted with ActionSA to install DA mayors in hung municipalities, Malema stressed that there was no coalition arrangement in place between his party and the DA.
Malema also confirmed that EFF has asked its mayor in Metsimaholo Local Municipality in the Free State to resign with immediate effect.
“We had a meeting this morning with the mayor of Metsimaholo and councillors. We’ve asked the mayor of Metsimaholo to resign with immediate effect because she became a mayor through the vote of the ANC.”
“We don’t vote with the ANC even when the ANC votes for us, we should not accept that,” the EFF leader said.
Motjoane, who is the EFF’s regional secretary in the Fezile Dabi District, was on Monday elected the executive mayor of the troubled municipality in Sasolburg during its inaugural council setting.
At least 24 seats were required for EFF to take control of Metsimaholo after the ANC won 16 of the 46 council seats. Both the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the EFF won 12 seats each.
Livestream Video Below:
Video Courtesy of EFFSA.