‘They stole our ideas and opened a political party’ — Mbalula accuses Malema of theft

10 March 2023 - 09:09
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ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula alleges the red berets leader Julius Malema stole the idea of the EFF’s seven cardinal pillars from the ANC. File photo.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula alleges the red berets leader Julius Malema stole the idea of the EFF’s seven cardinal pillars from the ANC. File photo.
Image: Freddy Mavunda

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has accused EFF leader Julius Malema and his party of stealing the ANC's ideas and claiming them as their own. 

He alleged Malema stole the idea of the EFF’s seven cardinal pillars from the ANC. 

“They stole our ideas. Malema ran with them, opened a party and says seven cardinal pillars points. That was the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) resolution,” said Mbalula

“As much it was drafted by [EFF deputy leader] Floyd [Shivambu], he ran with it, wamka nayo (claimed it as his own)We know those cardinal pillars points were drafted by Floyd for the ANCYL conference and were adopted. You called for economic emancipation and economic freedom in our lifetime. He ran with it and they formed a political party.”

Mbalula also took a jab at expelled ANC member Carl Niehaus’ Radical Economic Transformation Movement (RETM), saying: “Others are forming another political party called RETM. These people steal. They take our ideas and run with them to form political parties around them.”

Malema and Shivambu formed the EFF in 2013 after they were suspended from the ANC.

Shivambu was suspended from the ruling party in 2012 after the expulsion of Malema, who was then ANCYL president. The pair were given the boot for breaching party rules. 

Previously, former finance minister Tito Mboweni accused Shivambu and the EFF of stealing the ANC’s idea to implement a sovereign wealth fund.

This after the EFF, during the state of the nation address debate, said it wanted to implement a sovereign wealth fund to invest in growing the economy.

Mboweni said the ANC championed the concept long before the EFF did.

“Remember these folks emerged from the ANCYL. They stole most of the ANC’s ideas, not decorum, and pretended these are their own. The sovereign wealth fund is an ANC idea, not theirs,” said Mboweni.

Shivambu clapped back by challenging Mboweni to prove his claims, and hinted the ANC was “being led” by the EFF.

“Please accept to be led minister Mboweni, and save yourself from mavunwa (lies),” he said.

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