So Many Questions

The Economic Freedom Fighters chose not to form a coalition with the DA in Johannesburg when the DA refused to meet its demands. Chris Barron asked EFF leader Julius Malema . . .

How did it feel to be kingmaker for a week? I’m not a kingmaker. There are no kings and queens here, there are servants of the people.

You held the balance of power. Well, we had a deciding vote. We still have a deciding vote.

You don’t think you’ve blown it? No, we still have it. We have not surrendered it, we have not blown it. People will still have to talk to the EFF for the next five years. For any major decision they will need us to be on their side.

The first big vote is for mayor of Joburg. Will you use your vote to block Herman Mashaba? We have expressed a view that we are uncomfortable with Mashaba. If the DA wants to insist on Mashaba even when they know that they risk losing the vote of the EFF, we will not do that. We are going to give it to them because the issues we are pursuing are bigger than Mashaba. We are pursuing a big elephant here called the ANC. And therefore you can’t bring the ANC back because you’ve got some irritation with an individual called Mashaba.

So did you refuse to form a coalition with the DA to run Johannesburg because they wouldn’t get rid of Mashaba? That was not the reason. The reason was that we could not agree on issues with the DA.

Do you think you overplayed your hand with the DA? What do you mean?

By making ridiculous demands? No, they were reasonable, it was in good faith. If those demands had been met, the lives of our people were going to be changed for the better.

Did you really think they would agree to nationalise the banks? It’s possible. The political landscape is changing in South Africa and you never know. The outcomes of the 2016 local government elections presented challenges to the parties, so we thought, why not seize the moment and try to persuade these people to buy into a radical agenda.

And blew a golden opportunity to be part of the government of the richest metro in the country. Was that a mistake? We are very proud of our decision. People are saying that for the first time they are seeing politicians who are not self-seeking, who are not fighting for positions, who are saying we are prepared to be led by others and remain in opposition. It’s a ground-breaking attitude.

Wouldn’t you have had more influence over policy and implementation inside the government than outside? No, we play the opposition role much better. Our participation in the council will give us some exposure, and when, moving forward, we take over any of the municipalities, we will have an experienced team well conversant with issues at a municipal level. We don’t want to rush it. We are building the EFF properly, slowly, from the ground, so that by the time it becomes a solid alternative we know it is grounded on solid principles.

You need more than principles to run a municipality, you need first-hand experience. Being in coalition with the DA would have given you that, wouldn’t it? We’re not going to start establishing a municipality from scratch. It’s an institution, so we’ll build on institutional memory. When the ANC came into government in 1994 they didn’t have any experience, yet they governed.

And look at the result. That’s not an inability to govern, it’s the result of kleptocracy, corruption . . .

You’d have had a track record to show the voters. Wouldn’t that have been important? It would have played some positive role, but even sitting in opposition gives us experience.

Is coalition politics the future? It looks like it’s unavoidable. The ANC has proved that when it starts declining it doesn’t stop. If that is the case then South Africa is going to be under a coalition in 2019. We just have to take 5% away from the ANC and that’s it, they’re gone.

Will you participate in a coalition? As long as we can agree on fundamentals.

Your fundamentals? Not mine. The fundamentals of those who are getting into a coalition. There are areas where we will compromise.

Do revolutionaries compromise? We do. That’s why we’ve got tactics and strategy. Strategy is what you want to achieve in the long term. You may have to get into a tactical coalition to achieve your strategic mission.

Which is diametrically opposed to that of the DA? Absolutely.

So how can you talk about participating in a coalition? I’ve never said I’m going into a coalition with the DA.

Are you excluding the DA? I’m not excluding the DA. I’m saying we’ll deal with that matter in 2019.

Are you hoping the ANC will make you an offer you can’t refuse? My hope is that the ANC will be below 40% in 2019 so that we can make an offer they can’t refuse.

What would that be? To close shop and join the EFF.