The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) will not be voting with the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in future, in all metros, including Johannesburg.

EFF leader Julius Malema laid bare the party’s position while addressing the media in Johannesburg, on Tuesday.

He said if anything required voting, the EFF would abstain and added that South Africans had gotten the government they deserved.

“We said we were going to be in government in June because that is an ultimatum we had given to the DA but the DA said no. It said it is not prepared. Remember, we can’t be government if the DA and the rest don’t come to the party. They refused with their votes. They don’t want to vote for us but they want us to vote for them,” said Malema.

He said that power sharing was a give and take and pointed out that since 2016, the EFF had voted with the DA.

Malema said the DA did not appreciate the EFF.

He went on to give assurance that the EFF will still bring motions of no confidence.

Malema said any party that supported them was welcome to do so but warned that they should not expect any favours from the EFF.

“We would rather put on our motions and lose in principle,” he said.

Courts

When asked about being sued by ANC treasurer-general Paul Mashatile, Malema said he was disappointed.

Mashatile is suing he EFF for defamation of character after Malema accused him of stealing R1.6-billion, which had been allocated to the Alexandra Renewal Project.

“Paul knows; he knows where the money went. He was the leader of the ANC and he was in government. Paul must just explain but these courts have created an environment where political speech can be suppressed. We are going to see a festival of these things. The courts have taken a decision to suppress political speeches,” Malema said.

He challenged Mashatile to point to where the money went, accusing him of taking advantage of the courts.

Further, Malema pointed out that former Bosasa boss Angelo Agrizzi was fined R200 000 for using the k-word against black people but that the EFF was fined R500 000 for “political speech”.

“The courts of South Africa say it is less costly to call someone a k-word and more expensive to speak politics. Those are your courts, South Africa. Worse, you can’t speak against a member of the Thuma Mina group. These courts will kill you,” he expressed.

He said, however, the Constitutional court revived his hope when it recently dismissed an application to have Nomgcobo Jiba and Lawrence Mrwebi struck from the roll of advocates.

He said it remained to be seen if the Constitutional Court was part of the new dawn.

Trevor Manuel

Malema insisted that former Finance Minister Trevor Manuel personally knew the South African Revenue Service (Sars) Commissioner, Edward Kieswetter.

The South Gauteng High Court ordered the EFF to apologise to Manuel and pay him R500 000 in damages after Manuel sued the party for alleging in a statement that he was a business associate of, and related, to Kieswetter. 

“Manuel can kick and win court cases but he has a relationship with Kieswetter. It is undisputed. He confirms it in the court papers but what is funny is that he didn’t leave the room and why did he interview other candidates,” said Malema.

He went on to say that the process of appointing a Sars commissioner was unfair.

“We have nothing to hide. Sars is being used to fight political opponents. We have gone after Pravin Gordhan. We have gone after Jacob Zuma and even after president Cyril Ramaphosa. Let Sars come. We don’t care. The Sars commissioner was appointed unfairly,” he alleged.