EFF leader Julius Malema buoyant as compromise arrangement with ANC starts to bear fruit

EFF leader Julius Malema Photo: Lulama Zenzile

• Julius Malema believes his party is set to receive five MMC positions in Ekurhuleni this week.
• Last week, the EFF had Nthabiseng Tshivhenga elected as the interim Speaker.
• The DA-led coalition is likely to lose power. 

Having just had Nthabiseng Tshivhenga elected as the interim Speaker in the Ekurhuleni Metro, the EFF are in line for, at least, five member of the mayoral committee (MMC) positions in the municipality.

Addressing the EFF’s Free State Provincial Plenum on Sunday afternoon, Julius Malema said that, having joined forces with the ANC and other smaller parties, the EFF was set to gain more MMC positions in Ekurhuleni. 

“Comrades, we have two MMCs in Johannesburg. This week, if all goes well, we will have five MMCs in Ekurhuleni,” said Malema. 

He revealed that, as part of his party’s new compromise arrangement with the ANC, in that they agreed where none had an outright majority to govern a municipality, they would both support a mayor from a smaller party, while they reap the benefits of receiving influential MMC positions.

“Here, in the Free State, we are negotiating with the Metsimaholo Local Municipality because there we can also go in, but we refuse to go in under the ANC, so we came up with a new strategy now that we would rather have a small party mayor because we can’t have each other and serve under each other.

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“We would rather have MMC positions and run our own governments, so we are gonna do that in the Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality,” said Malema. 

The ANC took advantage of collapsed talks between the DA and its coalition partners and managed to lure the Patriotic Alliance into a coalition with themselves, the EFF, and other smaller parties, such as Al Jama-ah and the National Freedom Party. 

This apparent coalition of convenience has managed to unseat the DA’s Mpho Phalatse and, in her place, elect Thapelo Amad from Al Jama-ah as the new Joburg mayor. 

After this triumph, the EFF and ANC-led coalition shook things up in the Ekurhuleni council, where things had been left in limbo due to the continuous political squabbles in its chambers. 

On Thursday night, the Speaker, Raymond Dhlamini, walked out after a motion of no confidence in him. 

This paved the way for Tshivhenga to be elected as interim Speaker. 

As the last motion of no confidence in the mayor of Ekurhuleni, Tania Campbell, took place in October, she is safe – for now – given that the next motion against her may only take place in April. 

READ | New speaker ‘elected’, confidence motion rule passed despite collapse of Ekurhuleni meeting

Despite this, Malema was confident that a shake-up was on the cards in the metro.

Notwithstanding the partnership with the ANC, Malema encouraged those present during his address on Sunday that EFF members needed to start assuring citizens that life would continue even after a governing coalition was removed from power. 

“We are here today to plan for the year ahead of us. We need to embark on a massive political education and voter registration.

“We must conscientise our people to know that the ANC is not a synonym for politics; they think when you say politics, you mean the ANC,” said Malema. 

He added that part of the duty that political parties had was “to make communities aware of what other alternatives there were for them”.