EFF leader Julius Malema says he owes everything he knows to his late grandmother, Sarah Koko, who died last Saturday.

At the party's rally event in Soweto on Sunday, Malema told EFF supporters that his grandmother meant everything to him and that she would have wanted him to address the rally despite her death.

Malema was raised by his grandmother after his mother Florah died. Speaking to Anele Mdoda on SABC's Real Talk in 2018 he opened up about his difficult decision regarding getting married because of his grandmother.

In the interview, Malema said grandmother Koko used say, "I will not die before you get married because I want to see the person who is going to take over from me."

Malema said that it was a hard decision as he thought "because I want you to live long, I’m not going to get married".

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Malema revealed that one of the things his grandmother taught him was to be fearless. 

"Even my mother was like that [fearless]," said Malema. 

The EFF leader paid tribute to his grandmother on social media.