Leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Julius Malema took aim at President Cyril Ramaphosa, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi, and the ruling party during his keynote address as the EFF celebrated its 10th year anniversary at Soccer City Stadium.
With a strong presence of more than 90 000 people in attendance, Malema accused Ramaphosa of being responsible for the death of the 34 Marikana miners in 2014.
He also took aim at Lesufi, who on Thursday called young people who have applied for the Nas’ Ispani Program to Orlando Stadium for a hand over ceremony.
Malema said this was nothing but a politically motivated move aimed at bribing young people to vote for the ANC in the upcoming elections.
Malema said when the EFF takes over as the ruling party, it will ensure that young people are given genuine job opportunities and not be humilIated like they were being humiliated by the leadership of the ANC.
Malema said they want jobs and will not accept jobs given to people in a stadium.
“He went to Orlando Stadium and gave our children stupid papers. He humiliated our children and promised them a stipend. This is not a stipend but a bribery. We don't want bribery but we want quality jobs,” he said.
Malema said the party would take land for industrialisation and agriculture and create jobs for the people of South Africans, adding that once the party takes over the affairs of the country, they will arrest Ramaphosa for having stolen money, and for the Marikana massacre.
"We want you to get quality jobs. When the EFF takes over, we will make sure that people are given proper jobs and stop crime and police corruption. In the police, the generals are corrupt.... How can the president hide money in a mattress and he is not arrested? This is because the police are corrupt and are rotten to the core. If we do not fight corruption we will not get anywhere. Corruption steals money from children's feeding schemes. Corruption creates potholes.
“We are saying today the ANC is the organisation of murderers, the one who killed the 34 miners of Marikana. Those who the ANC killed in Marikana, they killed them because they did not want to give them what is due to them.”.
He said the EFF was the only political party that cared for local artists as well as young people of this country.
“We said to the artists: you will not die of hunger and poverty when the EFF is still alive. The EFF donated to the artists during Covid-19 and also did the same for the people after it made donations to the Solidarity Fund, to ensure that people's lives were safe.”
When it comes to allegations of corruption and other challenges, Malema said unlike the ANC, the EFF was able to cleanse itself and get rid of staff riders and charlatans who wanted to bring it down.
"The EFF is able to cleanse itself. We did not delete the staff riders because they thought they would kill our organisation but we are still standing fairly because our organisation does not depend on individuals but in its founding manifesto."
"They failed to bring us down through the London scandal and the VBS. No leader of the EFF is in court for VBS. Once more they failed to bring us down. They wanted to cause a fight in the EFF. They will never win because we want the land and that land must be taken from white minority rule.”