Julius Malema. File photo M&G
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has labelled Jacob Zuma corrupt but says that, despite this, and the exodus of members to the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, he is “very good” with the former president.
“Me and president Zuma, we are very good. The same way me and President Ramaphosa are very good. But it doesn’t stop me from saying he is corrupt, because he is corrupt,” Malema told a media briefing on Monday ahead of the EFF’s third National People’s Assembly next month.
New party leadership will be elected at the 12 to 15 December conference at Nasrec, Johannesburg, with Malema expected to make himself available to stand as president again.
Zuma and Malema seemed to have found a common ground ahead of the 29 May general elections despite a long long run of public spats.
Malema formed the EFF after being expelled from the ANC under Zuma’s watch and took the fight to him in parliament with corruption allegations, campaigning for the then president to pay back the state funds used irregularly to upgrade his Nkandla home.
After some thawing, the relationship between the two turned icy again following the departure of prominent EFF leaders to the Zuma-led MK party. These include former deputy president Floyd Shivambu and former chairperson Dali Mpofu.
On Monday, Malema said he was not a “pushover” and would not allow anyone to push him around because they had some form of a relationship. He said that this was why he was “hated.”
“If my wife can’t push me over, why would president Zuma push me over? For what? What would I be begging from him which I did not beg [from] him when I was in the youth league when I was in the ANC?” Malema said.
“It cannot be that because we are being civil with president Zuma therefore when you are civil with him, you can disagree with him, you must allow him to push you around. Not me.”
Despite the EFF and the MK forming the progressive caucus in parliament in opposition to the government of national unity after the elections, Malema said the parties did not have any formal relationship. He said dealings had taken a turn for the worse because of MK’s programme to recruit leaders from his Red Berets.
“Tomorrow we are marching to the constitutional court with everyone except MKP. The MKP won’t be part of our march. If they want to march, they must organise their own. Even the ANC can’t join us — it’s our march,” he said.
“Any other person that has been opposed to Phala Phala can join the EFF march tomorrow, starting at Mary Fitzgerald Square, to the constitutional court.”
On Tuesday, the constitutional court will hear the EFF’s application to revive an impeachment inquiry against Ramaphosa over the circumstances around the theft of foreign currency from his Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo.
In 2022, parliament rejected a report by an independent panel, chaired by retired chief justice Sandile Ngcobo, which concluded that Ramaphosa might have violated the Constitution and needed to be held accountable for his handling of the Phala Phala matter. The ANC majority in the National Assembly at the time voted overwhelmingly to reject the Ngcobo panel’s findings.
In a founding affidavit filed in mid-February, the EFF argued that the assembly’s rejection of the report was irrational because the facts and the rules of parliament left no room for a reprieve for Ramaphosa.
On Monday, Malema rejected claims that the party had barred Mbuyiseni Ndlozi from next month’s conference or from accepting nominations for any positions for which delegates might endorse him.
“I don’t know what you want me to answer on Ndlozi because I never said anything about Ndlozi. So, do not bring your shebeen gossip to me and want me to glorify some toilet discussion. I am not part of that,” Malema said.