Johannesburg – In a stern warning to the governing African National Congress (ANC) on Wednesday, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) said there would be no ANC mayor in Tshwane, Ekurhuleni and Eastern Cape’s Nelson Mandela Bay as municipalities get ready to form councils by Saturday.
EFF leader Julius Malema said ‘the arrogance’ of the ANC showed it was a party in denial.
“Imagine voting to give Johannesburg to the ANC, and then they celebrate and say ‘ANC leads ANC lives…’ how so when you have lost support and got less than 50 percent?” Malema asked.
There was no mayoral position for MP Thoko Didiza, the ANC’s Tshwane mayoral candidate, said Malema.
“Thoko Didiza, we shall meet in Parliament. There is no mayoral position for you, no matter what happens, or else be prepared to sit with us on the opposition benches. To Mzwandile Masina, we’re working very hard to make sure you do not become a mayor in Ekurhuleni because that municipality deserves a better person, and you are not that person. Nelson Mandela Bay is a sad one…no mayor in Danny Jordaan, he must face the charges at FIFA,” Malema said.
Regarding ANC’s Johannesburg mayoral candidate Parks Tau, Malema said he must be prepared to let go of blue light vehicles and walk ‘the streets like all of us’.
The EFF would not form part of any coalition at councils. The party said it would support the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in KwaZulu-Natal, the DA in Gauteng’s hung municipalities and in Eastern Cape’s Nelson Mandela Bay. In Rustenburg, at which the ANC needed just two seats to govern, Malema said his party would support the Forum 4 Service Delivery (F4SD) an umbrella for independents councillors.
Malema said talks were underway with the DA in Johannesburg over ‘a small matter’. The two parties agreed to not disclose the subject matter until they reached an agreement. He vowed that the governing party would never get ‘a single EFF vote’ at councils.
Africa News Agency