The EFF’s ninth anniversary celebrations in Mangaung yesterday became a multiparty platform to advance an offensive against President Cyril Ramaphosa.
EFF president Julius Malema, UDM president Bantu Holomisa and African Transformation Movement president Vuyo Zungula all took potshots at Ramaphosa and called for multiparty collaboration to remove him from office.
Holomisa and Zungula were among invited guests at the gathering at Dr Molemela Stadium in Mangaung.
Malema said the three parties had tried to tackle Ramaphosa through formalised platforms such as written questions through parliament but their efforts were in vain.
It was for this reason that mass mobilisation on the streets was the only option left to send a strong message.
“We wrote question after question to the president in parliament, tried to be gentlemen. This arrangement did not work, the streets are calling us, we must show Ramaphosa the door,” said Malema.
Zungula and Holomisa concurred, saying collaboration was needed.
“Without unity we are playing and we need to do away with this notion that because we as black people belong to different political parties we are enemies,” said Zungula.
“We are not enemies … It is for that reason that we will always accept invitations such as this one to come here, because we must unite. One of the most important things we must unite on is the issue of having no president.
“South Africa does not have a president, we have an impostor. We need a programme of action to remove this impostor from the Union Buildings because the country deserves a president who will lead, not an impostor and a servant of the CIA.”
Holomisa added his two cents worth, saying he was willing to work with the EFF to topple Ramaphosa.
“The hope that the ruling party has placed on its current president is misplaced as he failed to explain a simple thing, such as the foreign currency that was found in his home.
“The speaker of parliament is just singing for supper because how many times have we asked her to convene parliament to discuss this Phala Phala saga?
"We now have to work outside parliament as we did a few years ago when we marched to the Union Buildings as multiple parties.”
Malema charged that having a president who is accused of a crime continue in office was bad for the country as he had become “the role model of criminals”.
The EFF was resolute that removing the president was the right thing to do to stop crime getting out of control.
“How can we fight crime when the president commits crime and there is nothing that happens? The president had foreign currency, a case is opened against him but he is not arrested.
"The president took our police in no-man’s land without a case number and he is not arrested. The president has tortured people in his house, a case is opened and the president is not arrested,” said Malema.
“SA does not have a president, we have an impostor. We need a programme of action to remove this impostor from the Union Buildings
— African Transformation Movement president Vuyo Zungula
According to Malema, Ramaphosa’s days are numbered at the Union Buildings because the day the EFF mobilises society to the streets, it would be lights out.
The EFF would pursue Ramaphosa’s removal until it succeeds as it had demonstrated resilience in its offensive against former president Jacob Zuma and the Guptas.
The Phala Phala saga was not the only reason Ramaphosa should be forced to step down, he said.
“We must also remove him because of unemployment. We must remove him because of the levels of poverty in South Africa. We must remove him because of high petrol prices.
“We are going to shut down South Africa and when we do so, all the streets of the country will come to a standstill because we must take action against the state of our nation.”
Malema said the EFF had disappointed naysayers who had predicted it would disintegrate within a year after formation. However, he boasted, the party had proved to be a game-changer and trendsetter in the country’s body politic and would be that for many years to come.
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