Julius Malema is hoping the EFF’s continued growth in the Western Cape will earn it a seat at the table when polls close on May 29.
And when the EFF takes over from the DA, Malema says, he wants to get rid of gang violence and extortion rackets plaguing the Western Cape.
Addressing some 13 000 of his party’s supporters, who converged on the Gugulethu Stadium to launch the EFF’s Western Cape elections manifesto, Malema said the DA-controlled provincial government was dragging its feet in resolving the issues of gangsterism and extortion.
He also took a jab at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ANC administration, saying that it is full of corrupt people and needs to be voted out.
“We cannot go into this campaign without exposing how this government is rotten to the core, and you are the only ones who can stop the rot on May 29. When they speak about crime, they speak about the suburbs, and they don’t care about our people.”
Malema asked, “How can a government be scared of gangsters? It is because gangsterism is happening in the townships?
“Fighters, you cannot be complainants. You have to go and reclaim the streets of Gugulethu and the streets of the Western Cape from criminals and protect our innocent women and children. They killed many people in Cape Town because they refused to pay protection fees.
“Where is Mzoli today? The old man who ran a successful butcher that was attracting tourists here in Gugulethu. Apart from being sick, Mzoli was a victim of gangsterism that demanded money for protection. We cannot allow this province to be run by Pollsmoor Prison inmates,” said Malema.
The province is being run from Pollsmoor by gangsters, he said, “who steal money and give it to politicians who come and campaign with dirty money.
“We must not be scared to call it out because corruption is done by white people in the Western Cape.”
Malema also spoke of the need for his supporters to protect taxi owners.
“We need to support the taxi owners. We need to support the taxi drivers. When the EFF government comes in, we are going to subsidise the taxes the same way we are subsidising the buses. Why … subsidise the taxis? Because you work far from where you stay, we don’t want transport to be expensive for you.
“We are going to give these taxis permits on time only if they are in good condition. Our taxi owners and drivers must not put our people in mobile coffins. They must put them in taxis that are mobile,” said Malema.
Speaking on the sidelines, Carl Niehaus, a former ANC heavyweight who was expelled from the party and formed his own political party and later abandoned it to join the EFF, said he has no regrets about joining the EFF.
“This party will take our people out of the bonds of poverty,” he said.
