Johannesburg -There is nothing inconsistent about EFF leader Julius Malema sending his child to a private school while urging MPs to use public facilities, his party said on Wednesday.
“The idea... that the (Commander-in-Chief) is inconsistent is false and simply reflects gutter journalism,” said Economic Freedom Fighters' spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said in a statement.
Ndlozi was responding to news reports that Malema would continue sending his son to a private school, even though last week he said public representatives should use public services.
The Star on Wednesday quoted Malema as saying: “Why must I subject my child to poor education when people who are in power don't do it?”
At a weekend news briefing, Malema told reporters in Cape Town it made no sense for government to provide services its leaders, from MPs to ministers, were not willing to use.
Ndlozi said that contrary to the media reports on Malema's offspring's private education, the EFF and Malema had “not retreated on the insistence that public representatives must use public services such as health care, schooling, etc.”
However, he added an additional detail to the EFF's stance, saying “our commitment to EFF public representatives using public services is subject to EFF being elected into government.”
Nevertheless, Ndlozi said, the party would table a motion to Parliament “that all public representatives be required by law to use public services which they, as government, preside over.”
Sapa