The EFF has never been in the pocket of criminals, Julius Malema insists
Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema on Saturday insisted that his party has never been captured by criminals, and has been at the forefront of demanding accountability.
Malema addressed the EFF’s 3rd central command team meeting of the 3rd national people’s assembly at Bela-Bela in Limpopo. In the EFF, the central command team is the highest decision-making body in-between national people’s assemblies.
“We meet under a context where our nation and our people are crippled by fear and confusion, as a result of revelations that criminal syndicates and drug cartels have hijacked our country and destroyed our law enforcement agencies,” said Malema.
“It was only the EFF at the time, when the head of the NPA raised the alarm that the NPA is captured which wrote to the president of the Republic of South Africa requesting that an inquiry be established to investigate allegations by advocate Shamila Batohi that the NPA is compromised and ran by sinister forces.”
Malema said Ramaphosa did not listen to the EFF, and instead “coerced” her into withdrawing her allegations as a misuse of language.
“It was the EFF in 2024 in Parliament which introduced a motion to establish an ad-hoc committee to investigate extortion rings which have taken over our communities, and demand protection fees from business and residential areas alike – the ANC, DA and IFP, which control the provinces of the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal where extortion is the worst, rejected our proposals.
“Extortionists and criminal syndicates celebrated that day, as their political protection worked in their favour,” said Malema.
He said it has now taken the revelations by Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, “who broke ranks and exposed how cartels and politicians work together to murder the soul of our nation, for the truth the EFF has always spoken and known to be taken seriously.”
Malema said this proves that his party is independent.
“Commissars I begin by reflecting this history to you to show you that the EFF has never been and will never be in the pockets of criminals, and that all these political parties who claim to stand against crime today refused to do so when the EFF gave them the opportunity to do so,” he said.
“I reflect on the deliberate decision by the President of the Republic to coerce the Head of the NPA into silence, because he too cannot claim ignorance after he moved intelligence into his direct supervision in his office.”
Earlier this week, IOL reported that Malema said the door is open for Mkhwanazi to join the EFF if he is fired from his position within the SAPS.
Malema has thrown his support behind Mkhwanazi, who made damning allegations of corruption and collusion among senior SAPS officials, the judiciary, and criminal syndicates.
An ad hoc portfolio committee, which the EFF is part of, has been established in Parliament to investigate the claims.
jonisayi.maromo@iol.co.za
IOL News