LISTEN | EFF on ‘doorstep’ of GNU, says Malema as he accuses DA of influencing Trump

03 February 2025 - 16:36
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EFF leader Julius Malema says his party is 'waiting' to join the GNU. File photo.
EFF leader Julius Malema says his party is 'waiting' to join the GNU. File photo.
Image: Thapelo Morebudi

EFF leader Julius Malema says the party is on the verge of entering the government of national unity (GNU) should the ANC boot out the DA, which he claims played a role in provoking the US threat.

This is amid tensions over policy differences between the two parties in the GNU with the latest flashpoint the Expropriation Act which President Cyril Ramaphosa recently signed into law. The DA has threatened to challenge the act in court.

“We can’t do it [enter the GNU] with the people who are advocating that every progressive policy must not be implemented,” he told reporters on Monday.

“That’s why you’ve got this noise from [US President] Donald Trump. They [the DA] are at the centre of that. They thought they were going to bully the ANC in that GNU and the ANC would develop cold feet. The ANC is pushing forward. They [DA] now are seeking external intervention which seeks to undermine the sovereignty of South Africa.

“The ANC must know we are just outside — we are at the doorstep. Once they remove the DA and they want a partner, we are in. There is no government that is going to collapse here because Helen Zille says so.”

Listen to Malema and the DA:

Trump threatened to pull funding from South Africa, saying, without citing evidence, “certain classes of people” were being treated “very badly” over the Expropriation Act.

Contacted by TimesLIVE, the DA rejected Malema’s claims. “That’s not the case, the DA has not urged Trump to take away any grants or funding to South Africa. The utterances by Malema are unfounded and false,” it said.

Malema said Trump’s statement “is offensive and undermines our sovereignty and is a reminder that our reliance on foreign aid and foreign direct investment surrenders us to the will of imperialists who use money to dictate the economic and policy direction of Africa.

“We want to make it categorically clear to the president of the USA that we are going to expropriate land without compensation and pursue legislation measures to do so and no threat will stop us.”

In response to Trump's comment on South Africa, Ramaphosa said he would engage with him. While the US remains a key strategic political and trade partner for South Africa, “with the exception of Pepfar aid, which constitutes 17% of South Africa’s HIV/Aids programme, there is no other significant funding provided by the US in South Africa”, he said.

TimesLIVE


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