EFF pledges to build a private school for the poor in the next 5 years

EFF leader Julius Malema announced on Monday that the EFF would build a private school which would only enroll children from poor families.

The school - which will "probably" be built in the Alexandra township north of Johannesburg and will be named after Winnie Madikizela-Mandela - was expected to be built within the next five years.

According to Malema, the building of a black-owned private school was long overdue. He proceeded to call out wealthy black businessmen like Patrice Motsepe, Robert Gumede and Sisa Ngebulana for failing to build their own private schools.

Malema told delegates at the closing of the EFF congress in Nasrec that if the newly elected leadership fails to complete the mission of building the school by the end of the five-year term, they should be voted out. This included himself.

"We must build a private school that is owned by the EFF. We are going to build a school in these next five years, and children will go into that school will study free of charge," said Malema.

"I do not understand why Patrice Motsepe does not own a private school, I do not understand why Robert Gumede does not own a private school, with all the money they have."

Malema said building a private school was expensive, but the EFF could manage based on it raising R32m for its congress.

"If we can raise R32m for our conference in less than eight months, it means we are capable of raising more. We will hire highly qualified black teachers and will have full facilities in the standard of other private schools," he said.