Malema promises 'rich' will pay more for services

07 July 2016 - 09:02 By OLEBOGENG MOLATLHWA

The EFF will make wealthier residents pay more for water and electricity, and all other municipal services, in municipalities it will control after next month's elections. Party leader Julius Malema yesterday criticised the current system in which residents, excluding the indigent, are charged the same for services irrespective of their economic circumstances."If I work in parliament, where MPs earn almost R1-million, and you don't work, what equality is there if we [both] have to pay the same for water and electricity?"What kind of logic is that? That is not equality. You did not choose to be poor. Apartheid made you poor and the ANC is making you poorer."That is why we are saying there must be special prices or a special billing system for rich people and poor people."Let equality mean that those who are less fortunate must be protected," said Malema.The EFF leader was on the campaign trail, speaking to a 200-strong crowd on a dusty football pitch in Dibate, Mafikeng, North West.Malema said the EFF was advocating the expropriation of land without compensation to restore black people's dignity and identity."When white people took our land, they took out something in us. Even racists in the pulpit must be fought‚ Malema says of Rivers Church pastorEconomic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema took a swipe at controversial Rivers Church pastor Andre Olivier‚ calling for the church to fire him before the next Sunday service."Land is identity and without land you do not have identity."That is why we are fighting for land. "We need brave people who are going to take brave decisions and the EFF can do that."We have to redirect resources to develop black communities unashamedly," said Malema."White people say they regret apartheid, right? Then they should have no problem sharing their wealth."But it appears from the EFF's proposals that the extent to which municipal services are utilised would be a secondary factor in determining how much more than their poorer counterparts the better-off would have to pay.Malema positioned education as one of the central themes of the EFF's election campaign for the August 3 local government poll .He lamented the poor education of many blacks and the effect the lack of education had on how they saw themselves in relation to other races."When we are uneducated, we feel very small. We do not have confidence."That is why we have to educate the young ones."Education must be fashionable and we should never allow material things to define us as a people," said Malema, who recently obtained a university degree...

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