Julius Malema took a huge gamble when he launched the EFF 10 years ago. He had been chucked out of the ANC for openly taking on president Jacob Zuma and backing his deputy Kgalema Motlanthe ahead of the Mangaung national conference in 2012.
Malema at the time wielded great power as president of the ANC Youth League, but he had overplayed his hand and was expelled from the party before the Mangaung gathering.
His problems started piling up: he was facing corruption charges related to tenders in his home province of Limpopo, had a staggering tax bill and the authorities seized his homes in Polokwane and Sandton. Just when he thought the Asset Forfeiture Unit was done, it came for his cabbage farm.
Only months after insisting that he would not form his own party because his blood was “black, green and gold”, Malema joined his long-time friend Floyd Shivambu in launching the EFF at an event near the infamous Marikana koppie in 2013. The koppie was significant because Malema and Shivambu were among the first politicians to visit Marikana in the wake of the 2012 massacre.
The two positioned the party as the South African version of Fidel Castro’s July 26 Movement, which led the Cuban revolution in the 1950s. They adopted ANCYL resolutions on economic transformation, including the nationalisation of land, mines and banks, as core principles.
Some observers predicted Malema’s project would suffer the same fate as COPE — an ANC breakaway formed by Thabo Mbeki sympathisers that imploded after a power struggle between Mosiuoa Lekota and Mbhazima Shilowa.
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There were setbacks along the way — including claims about financial abuse that Kenny Kunene levelled against party leaders after his short-lived membership of the party in 2013. In 2015 there was more turmoil, which resulted in three leading MPs — Andile Mngxitama, Mpho Ramakatsa and Khanyisile Litchfield-Tshabalala — being expelled after falling out with Malema. In most cases, Malema’s leadership style appeared to be the issue — there were mutterings about the way he ruled the party with an iron fist.
But the EFF grew bigger and stronger, and as next year’s elections approach, Malema is looking like a potential kingmaker. His party is polling at about 12%-14%, and the fate of the ANC — which is widely expected to dip below 50% — could lie in Malema’s hands.
So it was instructive when the EFF leader visited the Sunday Times offices this week for an hour-long interview in which he spelt out his views on the election, possible coalition permutations and DA leader John Steenhuisen’s “moonshot pact”.
Steenhuisen has framed the initiative as an anti-ANC and anti-EFF project to ensure the ANC is ousted next year and that the EFF does not get its hands on the levers of power. But divisions between the DA and some of its potential partners indicate the most likely outcome of the elections is a government led by an ANC coalition with one or more other parties.
Malema said Steenhuisen’s determination to exclude him and his party from the moonshot discussions was part of a conspiracy by influential donors to force the DA and the ANC into a coalition after the elections.
The whole idea is that EFF numbers combined with the ANC, they should not pass 50%. So that’s what they’re working on, and so that [Nicky] Oppenheimer can force the marriage of the ANC and the DA the same way they did with Mamphela Ramphele, forced her marriage into the DA and then destroyed her
“The idea is that EFF numbers combined with the ANC, they should not pass 50%. So that’s what they’re working on, and so that [Nicky] Oppenheimer can force the marriage of the ANC and the DA the same way they did with Mamphela Ramphele, forced her marriage into the DA and then destroyed her.”
Debate is raging within the ruling party about its options after the elections. While some ANC bigwigs still pin their hopes on winning the election outright, albeit by a tiny margin, many leaders accept the party will probably need to enter a coalition to retain power.
Some hope the margin needed for a majority will be narrow enough that one or two smaller parties could be invited to join an uncomplicated coalition government. But the latest polls show the margin will be significant enough to require a bigger partner.
The EFF and the ANC already have a working arrangement in big metros such as Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and eThekwini.
Malema repeated this week that an EFF condition for supporting the ANC next year was that President Cyril Ramaphosa was not the party’s presidential candidate.
“We don't have a problem working with the ANC as long as the ANC concedes to the demands of the EFF,” he said.
“We would want to work with the ANC, more than [with anyone else]. We would want the ANC to be what it used to be. It is the first choice. But you ought to put very tight mechanisms in place. A very tight, clear programme of deliverables, of ‘this must be achieved by this time’.
“Not the ANC of Cyril Ramaphosa, because that’s equal to working with Oppenheimer.”
Antipathy to “Oppenheimer” was a recurring element in Malema’s remarks.
“The reason there is an attempt to do a forced marriage between the DA and the ANC is because Cyril is Oppenheimer, and the DA is Oppenheimer. The merging of the National Party and the DP [Democratic Party] was done by the Oppenheimers.
“And now Cyril, being the product of the Oppenheimers ... That’s why Steenhuisen or Helen Zille say, ‘Oh well, we will not have a problem working with the ANC of Cyril Ramaphosa.’ I would have a problem working with the ANC of Cyril Ramaphosa because that’s working with the devil, straight... And that is undesirable.”
Malema also ruled out public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan as an acceptable ANC presidential candidate, but acknowledged he had a soft spot for Deputy President Paul Mashatile.
Asked if he would enter into a coalition with a Mashatile-led ANC, Malema said: “Absolutely! [Mashatile] is a good brother.”
The EFF leader, referring to the group of billionaires such as Johann Rupert and Christo Wiese known informally as “the Stellenbosch Mafia”, said what he liked most about Mashatile was that “Stellenbosch doesn’t like him”.
“Paul, if he was to be honest, he will have to tell you that he went to see that lady of the Oppenheimers, l forgot their name. It is the one who gives the DA money and ActionSA. He went to ask for [money for the] ANC from that lady and she said, ‘No, no, no. I can’t give the ANC money. I don’t like the ANC. I like Cyril ... [but that] should never be confused to mean I like the ANC.’
“So even when the ANC was deep in crisis and Paul tried to reach out to the establishment, they rejected him ... And therefore anything that unsettled the establishment is worth taking a risk. Politics is a risk and you can’t be scared to take risks because that will not make you a politician.”
But Malema said if the EFF could not reach agreement with the ANC — which is unlikely to concede to the “dump Ramaphosa” demand — the door was still open to negotiate with other opposition parties, even the DA.
“Our door is open. We will work with the DA. We will work with all the opposition parties if they come and say, ‘Let’s build a solid government that is based in the interest of fighting corruption and defeating the high levels of unemployment and poverty through the distribution and ownership of the land and strategic sectors of the economy.’
“That discussion is not taking place, but not because the EFF doesn’t want it to.”
He said such discussion had been rendered impossible by Steenhuisen’s hostility towards the EFF.
There are no permanent enemies in politics. We had fundamental disagreements with president Zuma on how he ran the state... He eventually got removed. What else do I want from the guy? It’s done. I must move to the next chapter of the revolution
“The DA is actually discussing the possibility of forming a coalition with the ANC. Anything but the EFF. So I’ve not done anything to anyone. I’ve got ideological views and positions that I hold. But I’m not aloof from the dynamics in the country and I’ve got an open-door policy to engage.”
Malema said EFF growth was becoming a threat to the DA and his party was on track to take over as the official opposition.
“DA internal research has confirmed that the EFF is going to pass [the DA]. The numbers are growing and [the DA] numbers are declining. Much earlier in the year [Ipsos polling showed] the DA at 16% and then EFF at 13%. The latest results show the EFF hasn’t moved, it’s still at 13%, the DA is 14%.
“So the DA results are actually worse... What do they do, they stopped fighting the ANC... They make a U-turn to look at the EFF and say the EFF is the enemy, not the ruling party. Where have you ever heard such a thing?”
But if the EFF, DA and other opposition parties did work together, would Steenhuisen be acceptable as the next president?
“He won’t be president.”
So what would happen?
“Well, there will have to be a president consensus from the combined opposition.”
But why reject Steenhuisen as president?
“To subject our people to that matric leadership? Ai! It’s not going to happen. That thing ended with Zuma.
“After that, any other thing would be to insult the people of South Africa. So we shouldn’t allow that. Steenhuisen is good as a leader of the DA but he can’t lead this country. He too hates our people, now he’s fighting BEE. Now he’s fighting empowerment policies because anything black to him, like Cyril, must be suppressed.
“If you put Steenhuisen as president, it’s the same as putting Cyril.”
Malema said there was an assumption that “the white person who is in opposition must become president”.
I can lead them. I can be president of this country. I’m ready to be the president of this country. So why should I give it to Steenhuisen?
“Based on what? I can lead them. I can be president of this country. I’m ready to be the president of this country. So why should I give it to Steenhuisen? If you put Cyril here, and you put Steenhuisen here, and you put me here, I think I’m a better candidate.”
But how about the corruption allegations against him? Why should voters trust him?
“I get arrested for corruption because someone wants to settle a political score with me and says ‘you got a tender in government’,” Malema responded.
“That time [I was] fighting the president of the country. The charges get dropped, the president of the country gets removed. The new president comes in, I’m fighting that president until today. They have the powers to reinstate the charges, why are they not reinstating them?”
He said that if there was evidence against him, the Ramaphosa government should revive the charges against him. He also complained about how the South Africa Revenue Service (Sars) had slammed him with a tax bill of about R20m.
“I knew nothing about those things. I came from a family where no-one meets a tax bracket. I come from a family where tax has never been discussed.
“I got employed by the ANC, which was paying PAYE, and I thought that sufficient until I was told, ‘No, this is how much you owe us.’ I have no problem. I owed them but the way they came for me, it’s not how Sars should do things.”
He said Sars should have first suggested ways he could correct his tax status instead of immediately “pouncing” on him.
“You don’t in the first instance just go for a poor boy who comes from a poor background. I’m not saying [Sars] was wrong in terms of me owing them. They put all the cents together. Every cent. One of the things they said to me, which I had to account for, was a girl I used to date when I was in Cosas [Congress of South African Students] who deposited R3,000 in my account. That’s how petty they were.”
As for the VBS Mutual Bank saga in which he and Shivambu were implicated, Malema said that if there was any real evidence then they would have been in the dock by now.
His trial over allegations that he fired a gun into the air at an EFF rally in 2018 is unfair, he said.
“I’m not saying I shot a gun or I did not shoot a gun. [But] at the grave of Chris Hani, in the presence of the highest leadership in the country at the time, guns were shot there. In every political gathering, including when we were burying Winnie Mandela, there was shooting of guns. Not a single person got arrested.”
What makes Malema’s face light up is the growth of the EFF, which he says now has more than 1-million members.
“Remember, in 2014 when we were contesting first elections, we polled between 1% and 3%. We got 6% and the next elections we increased to 10%. We hope to increase now.”
Malema said even he and Shivambu had been surprised at the EFF’s early success. “When we had a discussion with Floyd it was like, ‘Ahh! One or two seats in parliament so we can get ourselves back on the table to agitate for economic freedom.’ And we got more than that.”
Most of the party’s support is concentrated in Gauteng, Limpopo and North West. Malema said there was also growth in Mpumalanga and Free State, but the big, pleasing surprise was KwaZulu-Natal. “I can safely say that the EFF has found a comfortable home in KwaZulu-Natal,’’ he said.
Since 2021 support in the province for the ANC has been waning, while the IFP has recovered strongly. An IFP-DA coalition in the province could oust the ANC, an outcome that Malema wants to prevent.
“There is huge political dissatisfaction in KwaZulu-Natal about the ANC and the calibre of cadreship and leadership ... But it’s good for me and I have no reason to complain.”
Malema said the EFF would focus on winning more support in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
“We have to infiltrate the IFP base and neutralise it so that the IFP is not able to merge with the DA and the two of them constitute a government in KwaZulu-Natal. It will be a miscarriage of history which will not be allowed.”
The EFF changed its strategy after the 2021 local government elections by taking up positions on councils. Malema said this provided a training ground to prepare party leaders for provincial and national government.
“We are a government in Ekurhuleni, responsible for half of that municipality; finance, electricity, water and things like that. So we ought to do things differently and make sure that our people get services.
“Mogale City, West Rand including Johannesburg, by the way. We are responsible for public safety and health, that’s why when you leave this building there’s no way you can’t find metro police on any corner, because of the type of activism that we’ve brought into government as the EFF.
“All of this is being used as a preparation and training ground for a total takeover in 2024. So in a way, we’re no longer a government in waiting, we are the government.”
In the build-up to the elections next year the EFF has been welcoming recruits from the ANC’s now demoralised radical economic transformation faction. The EFF recently announced Mzwanele Manyi, spokesperson for the Jacob Zuma Foundation, as a new party MP. The EFF is also “finalising negotiations” with expelled former ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule.
Don’t be surprised, Malema said, when more former ANC heavyweights make an appearance at the party’s 10th birthday celebrations at the FNB stadium in Soweto next month.
Will Zuma be one of them?
“No, no, no. I said I can’t tell you names. But don’t rule him out. But I can’t tell you names.”
With Zuma it would be an interesting turn of events, given that Malema and the EFF devoted their first term in parliament to trying to get rid of Zuma. This put Malema at odds with Zuma’s backers, including Manyi and Magashule.
But as with every flip-flopping decision he takes, Malema offers a justification.
“I’m really trying to think, in which sphere of life do we have a permanent disagreement? There are no permanent enemies in politics. We had fundamental disagreements with president Zuma on how he ran the state ... So I disagreed with him and I got expelled. He eventually got removed as the president of South Africa. What else do I want from the guy? It’s done. I must move to the next chapter of the revolution.”
Malema dismisses charges that his relationship with Zuma shows inconsistency.
“After the National Party killed so many people, after De Klerk presided over the Boipatong massacre, Mandela made De Klerk deputy president of this country... Tactical moves to arrive at the strategic objective. I must treat Zuma differently from how Mandela treated the enemy?”
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