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EFF will not only take over the wine farms in Stellenbosch, it will drink the wine, says Malema

Andisiwe Makinana Political correspondent
EFF leader Julius Malema says there is no excuse for committing rape. File photo.
EFF leader Julius Malema says there is no excuse for committing rape. File photo.
Image: Alaister Russell/Sunday Times

EFF leader Julius Malema has promised to get a new home for a blind Kayamandi woman who told the firebrand leader of her daily struggles living in a shack on a steep location and the risks this posed to her wellbeing.

Malema instructed the EFF leadership in the Western Cape to identify a house for sale, within a week, that the party could buy and modify to suit Bukelwa Sikhexe's disability.

“I want to hear in the next week that we found a house that they are selling and not building. The one they are selling, we will buy it ready for her, and convert it properly to accommodate her disability,” said Malema at the end of a 48-minute fiery campaign speech.

He said it wouldn't be right for someone facing such struggles to speak directly to a leader of a political organisation and for that leader to leave like they didn't hear anything.

“Then you are no leader at all, you are pretentious,” he said.

While Sikhexe had told Malema of the risks she faced walking around while blind in her home, she had specifically asked him for fencing as she feared for her safety.

Malema took the EFF election campaign to the DA heartland of Stellenbosch on Thursday, addressing more than 1,000 supporters who had gathered to hear him speak in Kayamandi, a township outside the town.

The DA governs Stellenbosch - one of SA's richest municipalities - with a 78% majority attained in August 2016. The EFF could only muster 3.7% of the vote five years ago, but Malema told supporters he would be happy if the party garnered five more votes than the last time.

Were the party to win on November 1, it would bring about a number of changes, according to Malema.

“Stellenbosch is a racist town and we want to change it because white people are very scared of the EFF,” he said. “Once the EFF comes into Stellenbosch, we are going to change it to a better place for all, whether you are white, whether you are coloured, Indian or African. The EFF wants people to stay together as one and respect one another.

“We don't have problems with white people. We have a problem with white supremacy and white arrogance. We hit it on the head with a five pound hammer when we see it. We are not scared of white people and they know that very well.”

Among the changes the EFF would bring is expropriating farms belonging to white people.

“These wine farms, they are ours. Sizakuyisela le wine [we will drink this wine],” he said.

“We are going to take these farms and drink the wine. We must relax properly on those farms. When we take the land, they must know we want all of our land, including the dagga that comes with the land, it belongs to us. And when we take over SA, expropriation of land without compensation is going to start here because this is where they started stealing SA,” he said.

The EFF would also bring services to Kayamandi and ensure that it eradicates shacks and build proper houses with three bedrooms, a lounge, a dining room, kitchen and a flushing toilet, he said.

“Because only animals don't have flushing toilets. The ANC and DA treats us like animals.”

Malema said water would also be among the priorities for an EFF government, as there would be no flushing toilets if there is no water.

“We need water, we need electricity and we must not wait for houses to get electricity. You can put electricity in each and every shack because our people need electricity not tomorrow, they want it manje [now] because our children can't go an study under a street light.

“That is so painful. We need everyone to have electricity.”

He said Eskom could provide electricity to every household not only in SA but in the SA Development Community region. The power utility could install meter boxes. Everyone would buy electricity and that way, Eskom would make money and no longer be bankrupt, he said.

Poor people would be exempt from paying for electricity and water.

Malema said it didn't make sense for the government to give people social grants because they were poor, and on the other hand charge them for water and electricity.

An EFF government would automatically exempt the people who receive SA Social Service Agency [Sassa] grants from paying for these services, he said.

“They are saying you are poor, here is R350, we are helping you to feed the kids but at month end, they give you a bill of R550 for water and electricity. They take the whole money and you still owe them, we don't want that,” he said.

Malema also decried the deployment of unqualified, politically connected cadres.

Under an EFF government, red berets would not get anyone a position.

“We hire everyone - ANC, DA, EFF as long as you are South African and qualified, you will get the job.”

Malema said cadres have destroyed municipalities all over SA. “The problem of water is not a God [created] problem, it's a problem of people who don't know what they are doing,” he said.

He said it didn't make sense that people who live in Camps Bay, where houses are built on the mountain, could have water, yet where it should be cheaper and easier to bring water, like in Kayamandi, it was a struggle to get such services.

Blaming apartheid would also not cut it, as the ANC government has been building houses since 1994, he said.

TimesLIVE

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