Malema orders EFF mayor to resign after 'illegal' ANC demands

The EFF's ability to govern will in the end not be tested at the Metsimaholo municipality in the Free State where the party bagged its first mayoral position with the election of councillor Selloane Motjoane.  

However, party leader Julius Malema said on Thursday the EFF had given an instruction to Motjoane to immediately resign — because her election was endorsed by the ANC.  

“She was happy but the ANC was already making demands, asking for illegal things. The EFF in Metsimaholo municipality does not have numbers. Why should we get into an arrangement that is bound to fail because voting there would depend on the mood of ANC councillors? Because we are not in a coalition with anyone,” he said.   

Malema was addressing journalists at the party’s headquarters on the outcome of the council meetings. 

He defended the decision to vote against the ANC, effectively putting the DA in charge of some of the country’s richest metros, saying it was in the best interest of the people.   

This after reaching out to ActionSA, the IFP and UDM among other parties which won votes on the “ticket of anti-corruption” at the eleventh hour, ahead of council meetings to prevent the DA from putting the ANC back in power.

“We strongly believe that people all over SA deserve to have stable governments at the local level,” he said. 

Despite putting the party in charge, Malema said he would play no role in the DA-led government but stay in opposition benches before the 2024 national elections.  

“Removing the ANC from the metros is levelling the playing field. We don't share constituency with the DA, they are voted [for] by racist whites.

“We have taken resources from the ANC now by removing them from power. Nothing magical is going to happen for the ANC until 2024.” 

Malema said he had no intention of disrupting DA government or voting against its municipal budgets in the metros, instead arguing that the ANC would do so after council meetings were disrupted in eThekwini and Modimolle municipalities. 

“We will vote for anything that makes sense. We will vote for service delivery,” he said. 

The decision to vote against the ANC made sense politically for Malema in preparation of the 2024 elections. The ANC’s loss of the metros meant the taps on public funding had been closed, he said.

“We are fixing the country. We are preparing for the future and the ANC is our immediate competitor.”

After the November 1 elections, the EFF had 63 councillors sworn in at different municipalities across the country and 84 more were expected to be sworn in at district municipalities. 

“While we would have wished to have many additional councillors sworn in on behalf of the EFF, we appreciate that the people of SA have shown confidence in more than 1,000 EFF members who will be servants of the people in all municipalities.” 

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