EFF won’t give up until Trollip falls

Malema warns party will keep targeting Bay leader Even if Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Athol Trollip survives the no-confidence motion today, the EFF will come for him time and again until he falls. “Once the EFF pronounces on you, you must know that you are going.”

This was the bold statement made by EFF leader Julius Malema at a packed Nangoza Jebe Hall in New Brighton last night ahead of today’s motion of no confidence against Trollip. Thousands of EFF supporters clad in their red T-shirts and berets filled the hall to capacity while some sat on the floor and others on the staircases. The fighters sang struggle songs while patiently waiting for Malema to arrive. The event finally started 90 minutes after the scheduled time. Addressing the crowd, Malema laid into Trollip. “We don’t stop. Tomorrow, we are going to attempt to remove Trollip and if we fail, we will come back again until we collapse him and teach him a lesson. We have taken a decision and there’s no retreat about it,” Malema said. “How many motions of no confidence did [former South African president Jacob] Zuma [survive]? Where is Zuma today? Who is Trollip who survives on some 50/50 arrangement? Zuma had 60% plus support, but when the EFF said come here, he ran away.” Malema said previous attempts to remove Trollip had been orchestrated by “Mickey Mouse” parties. “Trollip, today, tomorrow or the day after, it doesn’t matter. We have declared that you are going and it will not change,” Malema said. Should Trollip survive today’s motion they would ensure the DA in the future struggled to pass any budget items as they would vote against them. “For whatever he wants to do in this municipality, we are not with him. He is alone until they come before us and tell us, how are we getting our land,” Malema said. Malema said the reason for the EFF putting the motion forward was that the party’s leaders had made a tactical move to arrive at a strategic level which ultimately would deliver land to the people.

Malema said if people read the EFF’s manifesto, they would see that nowhere did it say that a vote for the EFF was a vote for the ANC and nor was a vote for the EFF a vote for the DA. “We never said that vote for us we’ll vote for the DA, vote for us we’ll vote for the ANC, we never said that. So when we do the practice of moving tables and playing chairs to deliver the things we promised you, why are you angry and irritated? “Malema asked. “This is us trying to achieve a one city, trying to achieve a minimum wage, trying to achieve free education and trying to give you land. “This is not a straight road, this is politics,” Malema said. Black and coloured people were living in poverty and had their electricity cut and were charged exorbitant reconnection fees which they could not afford, he said. He also took a swipe at the media. “The media must write everything, but they must know they will be challenged. When you write, write properly, give a balanced view, not a racist view, not a biased view that bashes the people who disagree with the mainstream and the status quo,” he said. “You are not an enemy, we are just going to disagree and we will expose your weaknesses.” Malema said the media must know that they would be criticised. “Journalists are not the enemy, they don’t own the media, they don’t control the editorial policy, these are the workers themselves.” Malema said the DA’s performance in the recent Ward 1 by election was an indication there were no black people living in the ward as the houses there were expensive. “The fact that the DA received a 92% majority in Ward 1 exposes them, it shows that this city is very racially divided and there are no black people there because they cannot afford the houses there. “When I was on a flight to Port Elizabeth I noticed that there were a lot of white people. We have a problem here,” Malema said. “You changed the city’s name from Port Elizabeth to Nelson Mandela Bay – there is no Nelson Mandela Bay here, this is Ibhayi.”