'EFF set the agenda in 2015 Parliament'

Julius Malema shakes hands with DA leader Mmusi Maimane after addressing Parliament during the State of the Nation debate in 2014. Picture: Elmond Jiyane/GCIS

Julius Malema shakes hands with DA leader Mmusi Maimane after addressing Parliament during the State of the Nation debate in 2014. Picture: Elmond Jiyane/GCIS

Published Jan 19, 2016

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Pretoria - The EFF has defended its “track record” in Parliament, saying it had in fact set last year’s agenda.

This is after DA leader Mmusi Maimane said the party, led by Julius Malema, had only made its presence felt by speaking out on the money spent on controversial security upgrades at President Jacob Zuma’s residence in Nkandla; and on the state’s medical aid scheme.

The EFF approached the courts late last year to challenge a provision that forced all MPs to be on Parmed, the government’s medical aid scheme, arguing it infringed on their right of association.

Maimane criticised the EFF’s policy of nationalisation and called on people to assess what the party stood for and where it wanted to go.

“I think their economic plan is dangerous for South Africa (because) if you started nationalising assets it would be problematic,” he said, speaking to John Robbie on Talk Radio 702 on Monday.

“When I reflect back on last year, what the EFF has really spoken about is Nkandla and the issue about medical aid,” he added, praising the EFF, however, for taking attention away from the politics of race.

“One of the things they have done is they have also allowed the discourse against the ANC to not be racial. I think in the past the ANC could simply stand up and say: ‘Look it’s just either this race or that race that opposes us'.”

“Whereas now I think we can stand up as South Africans and say we oppose the ANC and in fact it begins to soften their sense of saying: ‘Look, we are entitled to votes because we are a liberation movement’. That’s been a helpful thing,” he noted.

EFF spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi called Maimane a “newbie in politics” who had contributed to the weakening of the official opposition as he had no command over it.

“That Paliament, all of it, belongs to EFF. The most significant debates have been led by the EFF. We raised very sharply issues of illicit financial flows totalling billions of rand, and tax evasion by multinationals,” he said.

“The issue of the Marikana massacre in which police gunned down 34 striking mineworkers in 2012 continued to be spoken about because of the EFF,” Ndlozi said. “We also raised the issue of minimum wages where the DA and ANC voted against us.”

“Look, everything else the EFF says about the economy has been tested by history. We have long called for South Africa to have a bank owned by government to make credit available to support ambitious economic projects by black people.”

Ndlozi dismissed Maimame as “extremely shortsighted”.

“That’s the nature of liberals not to pay attention to history but individual freedoms.”

Maimane said he sometimes wondered if Malema, as former president of the ANC Youth League, didn't share certain characteristics with Zuma. “But the point is, at the end of the day, he plays his role in opposition and I play my role, but I’m not sure if he’s got good policies for South Africa. But certainly I think his policies would be very dangerous for our society.”

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