Johannesburg - Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema says all party leaders placed in positions will sign 12-month performance-based contracts agreeing to be recalled if they do not cut it.
Malema was speaking at the funeral service of branch co-ordinator Thapelo Lekeka, 27, who was gunned down at his gate in Vosloorus a day after the elections. No arrests have yet been made.
Alluding to some internal politics in the organisation, Malema told mourners that they were having problems with members calling and asking where they would be placed after the success of the elections.
“If a person cries to go to Parliament he is not one of the people in the organisation of Thapelo. We have a problem with this. Even Thapelo, we did not promise him a position,” he said.
He said leaders who did not perform would be removed from power and based on the contracts they signed, they would not be able to take the organisation to court.
The EFF was an organisation and not a single person, he said.
Malema arrived at the Mopudi Primary School at 11.30am on Saturday, dressed in a blue suit with a white shirt – sans his signature red beret – to a sea of people in red who had gathered outside the hall from before 9am in the hope that they would see him.
Some formed a guard of honour, others still carried his election campaign posters. Everyone wore EFF overalls or regalia.
Malema was addressing mourners ahead of a “thank you picnic” for members at the Innes Free Park in Sandton on Saturday afternoon.
“We are saying to Thapelo we will continue building this organisation and go to all corners of this country. This should be an inspiration to you. This is not the end of the EFF, it doesn’t matter if they come with AK-47s... You can kill me but you will never kill my ideas,” said Malema.
“We must never be cowards. We must never retreat. We must never surrender. They can see we are making a meaningful impact. We must never sell out the dream, it doesn’t matter who says what. Dogs never bark at stationary cars. They only bark at moving cars.”
He said Lekeka’s death was not the end of the EFF in Vosloorus, but the beginning. “This should make you determined,” said Malema.
On the podium Malema took the opportunity to thank his members for voting for him – but he also took a jibe at the ANC, saying people who lived in shacks and voted on the basis of free T-shirts handed out at voting stations would stay in shacks for the next five years until they made the right choice.
“Thank you for making Madiba’s legacy work. Voting is Madiba’s legacy. People died for this freedom. Thapelo was killed for this freedom. It was done by people who wanted to undermine a peaceful election. Let us not be angry and do stupid things, said Malema.
“We are here to take the spear and continue with the struggle.”
Sunday Independent