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The EFF were caught between “two devils” in hung municipalities and the party chose the better of the two, leader Julius Malema said.
“The DA is the better devil,” he told reporters in Alexandra today.
“We couldn’t be neutral, we had to take sides. This is history. We were caught between two devils.”
Malema said the party would not enter into coalitions with any party in any municipality in the country, but would vote with certain parties in various councils.
It would vote with the IFP in KwaZulu-Natal’s hung municipalities, and with the DA in the metros of Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg, Tshwane, and Nelson Mandela Bay, he said.
The party was not power hungry or after positions. It did not want hung councils and wanted to ensure service delivery, he added.
“The EFF must earn its seats, not get power through shortcuts,” Malema said.
“No one is going to compromise the EFF at all costs. We are building this organisation, building it slowly, teaching our members not to love positions.”
Malema said those threatening EFF members had “ANC tendencies” of fighting for positions.
He lambasted the ANC and said its leaders were arrogant and putting individual needs ahead of those of the country.
Malema said there was no political agreement between the EFF and the parties they were giving their votes to in councils; they were just offering them support.
He said he wanted the people to elect the EFF into power through proper channels.
“We are saying let the EFF not assume power through a method that is not a popular mandate. The people must say you deserve it. If not, it means the people have rejected what you stand for. We do not suffer from uncontrollable ambitions for power. We will influence the municipalities from opposition benches,” said Malema.
He said they were happy President Jacob Zuma would be working and living in municipalities run by another organisations.
“What makes me happy is that Zuma is staying in a municipality not run by the ANC, working in a municipality not run by the ANC,” he said.
He said the party leadership had held numerous meetings with the DA and the ANC, but could not agree on certain terms.
Malema said they had put eight conditions on the table, but that the ANC could not meet them.
“We told them we were prepared to work with them if they could meet our demands,” he said.
The demands included:
» Taking their votes and using them to appropriate land without compensation;
» Nationalisation of mines;
» Free education immediately;
» Removal of the Die Stem from the national anthem;
» Eradication of e-tolls;
» No signing of the nuclear deal; and
» The removal of President Jacob Zuma as the head of state.
Malema said the ANC had welcomed the input, but had asked for time to meet its collective.
“On all issues, they were not committed. They said there was no nuclear deal at the moment and therefore they couldn’t discuss an issue that was not there,” said Malema.
Malema said the DA also could not meet their demands.
He said the DA had said it did not have powers to expropriate land.
He said they also asked the DA to support them in removing Die Stem, and not to change the name of Tshwane
