I will give ANC the EFF vote, says Malema

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has received praise and condemnation on social media for saying he will give the ANC the EFF vote with a condition.

As multiple polls and political analysts predict that the ruling party will receive less than 50% of the vote in the May elections, Malema said on Kasie FM on Thursday evening that he would give the party his EFF vote with a condition.

“I am prepared to give the EFF vote to the ANC nationally if it doesn’t get 50%. I don’t need the glory of being a deputy president or president. I will make one demand: make Floyd Shivambu minister of finance. That’s all.”

Malema said he did not have to occupy the highest seat in office to implement EFF policies – which was what he needed most.

“The problem with these big parties is that they’re driven by ego, they can’t differentiate between power and glory.

“Once we take finance because that’s where the problem is, and President Cyril Ramaphosa knows that… The problem in this country is the department of finance which engages in anti-poor policies.”

He said although the EFF was not in power in the City of Joburg during Herman Mashaba’s tenure as mayor, EFF policies were implemented.

“If I’ve got this power which can influence decisions… I am not obsessed with being president or deputy president,” he said.

Malema defended his party from accusations of corruption, claiming that the VBS allegations were “engineered” to discredit it.

Earlier this year, parliament’s joint committee on ethics and members’ interests resolved to dock Shivambu’s pay after finding that he failed to disclose R180 000 he had received from Sgameka Projects in 2017.

The company was implicated in the looting of VBS Mutual Bank. It is owned by Shivambu’s brother, Brian.

Shivambu then went to court with an urgent application to set aside the decision to deduct his salary.

He argued that the investigation against him was unfair as he did not know what allegations he was facing before parliament’s decision was made.

The court has struck his application off the roll.

Malema said: “The EFF government is not corrupt in Ekurhuleni... is not corrupt in Johannesburg... We have two MMCs in Nelson Mandela Bay, there is no corruption.

“The EFF is intolerant on corruption now, it will be in future, even internally in the EFF, look at how we run our affairs,” he said.