Julius Malema says he’ll leave South Africa if courts become captured

That would mark the point when EFF leader Julius Malema joins the chicken run and packs for Maputo…

“Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng and the judges of this country carries South Africa on their shoulders. Often, it is the Bench which stands between South Africa and disaster – given the current state of the executive and legislative authorities, the judiciary is the only authority which functions properly. If the courts become politicised, this country is finished,” Malema warned grimly at a press conference on Sunday afternoon.

In a lighter vein, he added: “Then I move to Mozambique”.

Malema denies being dictator

At the press conference at the EFF’s national congress, which it calls the National People’s Assembly, at Nasrec, south of Johannesburg, Malema denied accusations that he was a dictator.

Journalists contended that some in the EFF believe he is shaping the EFF in his image, just like – so these critics apparently claim – he did with the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) and the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) when, in turn, he was leader of each.

“My leadership positions were often challenged democratically, and I won those elections. I am often elected unopposed because people realise that I work very hard – even those who hate me and those who did not want me, had to admit that.

Malema: ‘Press obituaries’ of political career

“I know I come from nothing. When I was a child, I stayed in my grandmother’s yard with my mother. An epileptic single parent whose job was to clean other people’s houses. I worked myself up by myself, without help, thanks to my ability to work the ground politically and to understand politics (not on the level of those clowns who use Twitter to put their political views across) and the fact that no politician works harder than I,” Malema explained.  

“I have been written off by journalists so many times; there is no shortage of press obituaries about my political career. But here I still sit with you today. It is like this VBS thing – your imaginations are misleading you,” he claimed.

EFF aims to grow footprint to govern ‘United States of Africa’

And if Malema could get his way, it is a matter of today South Africa, tomorrow the world for the EFF, because the Red Berets do not merely want to govern South Africa. It wants to govern a future United States of Africa. Hence, several African states boast their own EFFs with the EFF Namibia recently bagging its first two seats in that country’s parliament. 

Although the EFF is of the opinion that President Cyril Ramaphosa is failing as the head of state, Malema said the EFF had no immediate plans to initiate a parliamentary vote of no confidence in him.

2020 will be ‘year of action’

However, he promised that 2020 would be a year of action for the South African political left.

“We will work with partners, such as trade unions Numsa [National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa] and Amcu [Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union]. Eskom will not be sold as long as we are here. We invite all who stand on the side of the working class to join us on the picket line,” he said in a clear invitation to Cosatu and some ANC members.

Crack showing in EFF façade

Also on Sunday, the first cracks of disunity and aggressive division appeared in the EFF façade. The former secretary-general, Godrich Gardee, declined nomination to the Central Command Team, which is not dissimilar to the ANC’s NEC and the DA’s federal council, and in the early hours of Sunday morning, four female EFF delegates had to be rushed to hospital after an EFF security marshall used teargas against them. The marshall was summarily fired.

The EFF gathering ends on Monday.