EFF leader Julius Malema has set his sights on winning KwaZulu-Natal in next year’s elections and he believes his party could easily do so by attracting women to the red brigade.

Malema used the Women’s Day celebration event in Edendale in Pietermaritzburg on Thursday as a launching pad for the EFF’s election campaign and urged his supporters to go all out to attract women voters.

“Next year we’re going to the elections. We have an opportunity to correct this mess. But if you don’t correct in 2019‚ you’ve got yourselves to blame. We want KZN. We want to lead this province. We want the EFF to be everywhere in KwaZulu-Natal. And please‚ when you work for the EFF make sure that you target women.

“You know the majority of voters of the EFF are men and we can’t be proud of that. It means there is something wrong we’re doing because women are attracted to things that make sense. So it means we’re not making sense because the majority of EFF voters are men. We want women’s votes. Start treating women properly if you want them to vote for you.”

Malema said women would not vote for the EFF if they were disrespected in the party.

“Once we get the women’s vote‚ we’re going to be government here in KwaZulu-Natal. We’re not government in KwaZulu-Natal because women are not voting for us. We must go all out and get the female vote. They are waiting for us to change our conduct. They are waiting for us to reach out to them. They are waiting for us to address their issues‚ not only to talk about their issues‚ they want to see us in action.”

He said the EFF‚ which celebrated its fifth anniversary in Port Elizabeth last weekend‚ was going to be in government in South Africa “whether they like it or not”. Malema also called for women to be given land and said that if land was given back to black people‚ women must get at least one hectare of land each.

“When we give women land we’re guaranteed that the children will be fed. Let’s give South African women the land‚ the most oppressed people. We must make sure that women benefit from this land. This land must not benefit politicians.”

He said South Africa did not want the disastrous Zimbabwe-style land reform where land was divided among the political elite.

“The EFF has got a plan for the land. Money is there but it is being stolen. The money will not go to the hands of politicians. We will work with amakhosi [traditional leaders] on condition that they give the land to women and the people. We must do away with nepotism and favouritism in traditional leaders‚” said Malema.

He accused some traditional leaders of taking the land away from black people and giving it to white people in order to benefit themselves.

“Not all traditional leaders are like that but there are traditional leaders who take land from black people and give it to white people. We want all of you to own land and get cows.”

If the EFF had its way‚ the state would give each person 10 cows and one bull as a start-up.

He lashed out at former president Jacob Zuma who has been accused of benefiting from cows bought by taxpayers’ money as part of an upliftment programme for emerging farmers in the Eastern Cape.

“We want the cattle to come to you. We can’t even slaughter for our ancestors because we have to pay. If we don’t have land we can’t even practise our own culture. Women must lead the struggle for land‚” he said.

Malema also directed some of his venom toward the church‚ which he accused of isolating women and practising sexism without anyone raising a finger about that.

“Why is the church allowed to isolate women. There are churches where women worship separately from men. There are churches where women are not allowed to wear trousers‚ are not allowed to wear earings and Brazilian hair.

“The woman must not wear a short skirt because the church says so. Women are being isolated and oppressed with impunity in the church but no one is raising a voice‚” said Malema.