What does an introverted Economic Freedom Fighters’ MP do in the sea of confident colleagues who give fiery speeches at every opportunity in Parliament?
Well, according to the party’s leader, Julius Malema, you must join them. You can’t be an EFF MP and be shy.
The EFF held a session of “self assessment” in Parliament on Thursday 31 July, where its MPs were given an opportunity to appraise themselves.
“They are telling us how do they view their inputs and participation [in Parliament]. Which areas do they need support on and which areas do they think they need to improve on,” Malema told journalists during a press conference which was held during a break of the assessment session.
“Members are speaking freely, some are saying: you know I’m still shy and have stage fright. We say, no, those things belong to adolescent youth and not to members of Parliament. You can’t be shy when you have accepted to represent the people. Take to the podium and articulate the position!” Malema told journalists in the presence of EFF MPs.
He said otherwise, all of the EFF MPs have hit the ground running in Parliament.
EFF is one of the new parties in Parliament and it has hogged the headlines since its entrance in May, when its MPs arrived for the swearing-in ceremony dressed in red overalls and hard hats, and women dressed in maid’s outfits.
During the sittings of Parliament, the EFF has sought to push the envelope and question the way things are done in Parliament, to the ire of the ruling ANC and official opposition – the Democratic Alliance – who have categorised the EFF behaviour as disruptive.
But according to Malema, it is just beginning – the EFF has not started. “There is no deteriorating state of the decorum in Parliament. It’s an improvement. What we are doing is an improvement,” said Malema.
“You know the ANC, I can’t believe I was part of such an organisation.
“You [the ANC] come here and inherit an apartheid parliamentary decorum – a decorum that was imposed on Parliament so that asking difficult questions to the apartheid [government] becomes impossible.”
Malema said the ANC is implementing parliamentary rules that were drafted by the apartheid Parliament and which were meant to protect the then executive.
“Apartheid introduced all those things to suppress the most efficient and effective opposition. And that works in the ANC’s favour [now], and [hence] they want to maintain it. We are not going to maintain that,” he said.
Earlier this week, ANC chief whip Stone Sizani lamented the EFF’s rowdy behaviour in Parliament, saying that EFF MPs were not only unaware of the rules, but also lacked respect for Parliament and for their opponents in other parties.
Malema argued that the ruling party has had it easy in Parliament since 1994 and only now was facing a real opposition in the EFF. “We are a necessary problem, and we will continue being that problem. We are going to be in their case for the next five years,” he vowed.
Malema was confident that the EFF has brought “qualitative inputs” to Parliament.
He said they were excelling and excited about the work of Parliament’s portfolio committees. The committees are often described as the “engines” of Parliament. This is where proposed laws are drafted and processed, where departments account for their programmes, plans and budgets, among other things.
Malema said while they could not even get their point across properly in the National Assembly’s plenary sessions, due to the limited speaking time among other things, they engaged without fear or favour in the committees. “We love committees, that’s where the actual work is being done, that’s where we narrow our views into sectorial inputs and focus in that manner.”
As it has now become custom, Malema launched an attack on the ANC and its MPs, saying they were inept. “The ANC has got the weakest members of Parliament who have no idea what we are dealing with. They have no idea of the economy of South Africa.
“What they know is slogans, songs and rhetoric, generally the ANC has got voting cattle here in Parliament. They do not make qualitative inputs on how we can transform South Africa. They are very good at howling, sometimes you can even think they are drunk [at] the way they howl.”
He added: “When we raised the debate on transfer pricing, base erosion and profit shifting, they actually became sober – eh, what is that? Can you explain to us what do you mean by that?” he said, mimicking the ANC MPs.
He dismissed criticism by the DA, which has asked 700 written questions to the executive in the first two months of Parliament. The EFF, just like the ANC, has not asked a single question.
Written questions are just one of the parliamentary mechanisms used to hold the executive to account.
“We are not here in a competition of asking questions,” said Malema. He said EFF members would ask questions when there were questions to be asked. “Some of these things don’t need questions but a proper policy for those things to be resolved. And that’s why we are keeping on putting pressure on the policy perspective.”
“Why should we ask a question: Why are [you] not expropriating the land? We say, ‘we must expropriate the land without compensation’.
Instead of asking questions, we provide solutions,” said Malema.
Malema also warned that compelling political parties to disclose their private funders could have detrimental outcomes for democracy.
He said while he had no problem with disclosing the EFF’s private donors, he was worried that they would be victimised.
“You are going to kill democracy because opposition parties survive on private donations of people who are doing work with the state and do not want the state to know – worse the state of the ANC.
“Once we do the declaration of private donors, people are going to withdraw their donations and that is going to stifle democracy,” he said.
He said the EFF will not oppose the application of an NGO that has taken Parliament and the parties represented there, calling for a policy to regulate party funding and the disclosure of political party donors.
“Sometimes we agitate for things that are self-defeating. We will not object to it in court because we don’t want to be seen as if we are trying to hide something but that thing is not good for democracy,” he said.
He however warned that the ANC was “very brutal” with people who donate money to the opposition.
“I’m telling you now, I was there, I know it. They list them and a resolution would be taken that these people shouldn’t do business with government anywhere.
“So, if we are going to disclose our funders who are going to disappear, then Parliament should at the same time increase the party funding, so that party funding replaces potential private funders. [Otherwise] you are going to have a one-party state because the ANC is the only party that will receive funding,” said Malema.