AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo
AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo has urged all South Africans, especially in the Eastern Cape, to vote for the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in this month’s general elections.
Addressing scores of party members at an EFF meeting in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, Dalindyebo said it was time for a new leader who could restore the country to its former glory.
“This is the last time we see any ANC missile on our soil, they only have death missiles. That is why you must vote in your numbers, render the ANC government useless, defunct and non-effective,” he said.
Dressed in the Red Berets’ attire, Dalindyebo called on his audience to vote out the ANC for failing to provide leadership in the province.
“The commander-in-chief Julius Malema is the president-in-waiting. We have heard that Cyril Ramaphosa is shaking wherever he is. Run Cyril, it’s Julius’ time,” he said in isiXhosa. “Make sure that this time you do not just decrease the ANC’s voting percentages, but we vote it out of government.”
In a bid to increase its support in the Eastern Cape, the EFF has created close ties with Dalindyebo and in 2021, ahead of the local government elections, bought the king a luxurious car to cement the relationship.
But last month, Dalindyebo’s support for the EFF came into question after he was spotted at the ANC’s Chris Hani region manifesto launch, where — wearing the ruling party’s regalia — he shared the stage with its provincial leadership including Eastern Cape chair Oscar Mabuyane.
At the event, Dalindyebo claimed that the ANC was his home and he would return to it whenever he wished.
In 2013, the king backed the Democratic Alliance.
As part of the EFF’s efforts to bolster its support in the province ahead of this year’s elections, Malema deployed deputy president Floyd Shivambu to the Eastern Cape.
The party has continued to grow, earning 1.9 million votes in the 2019 national elections from 1.2 million in 2014. Although the EFF has been strong in the North West, Gauteng and Limpopo, it has struggled to gain momentum in the Eastern Cape with only 7.72% of the 1.9 million votes coming from that province.
Addressing supporters on Tuesday, Malema accused the ANC of failing to redistribute land stolen from black people by the apartheid regime.
“Land is everything. Don’t be misled — there is no one who can survive without the land. If the land is so useless, why are these white people fighting for it?” he said.
He said the people of Eastern Cape should “wake up” and vote the ANC out for failing to provide services.
“This thing of [the] black majority, and Africans in particular, being the numerical majority, yet continuing to be the economic minority, living under difficult conditions and perennially begging for participation needs to stop,” he said.
He said an EFF government would restore Mthatha to its former glory and convert the country into a construction site to create jobs.
“You cannot grow the economy and empower your people, and deal with inequality if you don’t own the land,” Malema said.