‘Favoured by God’: Malema praises Ndlozi as he takes jabs at Lesufi

EFF leader Julius Malema believes his party has quality leaders who could place it in a significant position in coalition talks after the 2024 national and provincial elections.

Malema turned the spotlight on MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, who completed his PhD in Philosophy at the University of Witwatersrand in 2017, saying the politician is a multitalented man “favoured by God”.

“If we go into a coalition with the ANC and I say here's Ndlozi [as Gauteng premier candidate] and the ANC says it wants [the] premiership, here's [Panyaza] Lesufi. I leave it to you, the voters, and I say look at the two; nowhere does Lesufi come close to Ndlozi,” he said on Kaya FM. 

Malema said Ndlozi, known for his love of singing, was not only clever, but had an “impressive character and humility”.

“Ndlozi is one guy who was favoured by God. He has the brains, the ladies say he's got the looks, I don't know that; he has humility and a voice to sing. I've never seen everything in one person. That is the kind of people we are giving you and you [the voter] must make a decision.” 

He criticised Lesufi's job creation initiatives, calling them “fake”. 

“Panyaza goes around faking jobs, creating an impression he is giving people jobs and calls people, even apartheid never did that, to collect appointment letters and display poverty at Orlando Stadium. When I made my application for my dignity I did it alone. I was not in the stadium; you gave me an email address and I made my application. So now why must I be announced?” 

Last year, Lesufi launched Nasi iSpani, a recruitment drive by the provincial government. In his state of the province address this month, Lesufi said about 7,000 jobs were created in the establishment of Gauteng’s crime prevention wardens known as AmaPanyaza.

“The provincial government can confidently assert that close to 90,000 young people, the same number it takes to fill FNB Stadium, are no longer unemployed, hopeless and without the ability to contribute to their families. If we consider that in South Africa, on average, every employed South African supports 2.8 people, that indicates the impact of the Nasi iSpani job opportunities and the number of families we touch daily,” Lesufi said.

Jobs were created through:

• the green army (cleaning community initiative);
• crime prevention wardens;
• Early Childhood Development (ECD) practitioners;
• solar technicians; and
• building inspectors.

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