Saturday Star

EFF to stay in voting bloc with DA

- TEBOGO MONAMA

EFF LEADER Julius Malema made an about-tur n yesterday, after threatenin­g to pull the party out of the voting arrangemen­t with the DA in municipali­ties if it didn’t fire Western Cape Premier Helen Zille for her tweets supporting colonialis­m.

But he has changed his tune now.

The DA removed Zille from her party positions, but retained her as premier after she unreserved­ly apologised for the tweets – and for underminin­g party leader Mmusi Maimane.

Speaking at a Youth Day rally in Boipatong yesterday, Malema said instead of pulling out of their municipal voting bloc with the DA, the EFF would first try to remove the ANC from power.

He said: “We will never vote with the ANC. We are in this mess because of the ANC. If you say I must tell EFF people not to vote for the DA, how do I go back to explain to the people of Boipatong that I voted for a party which took electricit­y from them for two months?”

Malema said the ANC “allowed... white arrogance”.

He added: “The ANC converted itself into the security guard of white capital.

“We must deal with the security of white capital before we deal with white capital,” he roared to the crowd.

“The problem of Tshwane, Joburg and PE is not a creation of the EFF. We are in this position because of the voters. “Stop blaming the EFF. We are not and will not vote for the ANC.

“We will continue to vote with the DA, the IFP and any other party opposed to the sec- urity of white monopoly capital,” he added.

Malema was visiting Boipatong on the eve of the 25-year commemorat­ion of the Boipatong massacre.Malema said he was not desperate to be presi- dent of the country, but that he was more interested in building his party, which turns three in July.

“We are building this party from the ground slowly so that when it takes power it will be forever and ever.

“I want to build a formation that black people can trust and celebrate forever.

“If I was desperate for power I would have been a mayor in Joburg now,” he said.

 ??  ?? Hundreds of EFF followers attended Youth Day celebratio­ns in Boipatong Stadium where the party’s leader, Julius Malema, addressed them.
Hundreds of EFF followers attended Youth Day celebratio­ns in Boipatong Stadium where the party’s leader, Julius Malema, addressed them.

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