Economic Freedom Fighters leader says President lacks capacity to govern, accuses him of rehashing old promises
Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema delivered a blistering assessment of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Thursday, offering rare praise for the deployment of the South African National Defence Force while dismissing the remainder of the speech as an election-year campaign platform.
Speaking to reporters following the address, Malema welcomed the President’s announcement that the army would be deployed to areas where gangsterism has overwhelmed communities.
“I appreciated the intervention by the army in the areas where gangsterism has taken over the streets of our townships,” Malema said. “That is a confirmation that the South African Police Services have dismally failed. The President is scared to say they’ve lost confidence in SAPS, hence the army. We are happy that the army is coming. We are going to restore law and order.”
‘Billions thrown into water projects’
But the EFF leader dismissed the President’s promises of investment in infrastructure, specifically targeting references to water infrastructure spending.
“Why does he talk about trillions in water? He spoke about billions in water. Billions have been thrown into the Giyani projects. There is still no water,” Malema said. “To utter trillions, billions from a speech doesn’t translate into our people having water.”
Malema characterised the President’s repeated reliance on task teams as an abdication of responsibility.
“This thing of task teams, task team after task team, is a person who’s failing to execute their own responsibility and they shift it to other people,” he said. “It’s a confirmation that he doesn’t have the necessary capacity in the Government of National Unity to deal with issues that he wants to deal with.”
‘Campaign platform’
The EFF leader accused Ramaphosa of exploiting the official government platform for partisan purposes.
“We are here again listening to a man who is using a government platform during an election year to launch a campaign for his political party,” Malema said. “That’s what we’ve been subjected to here.”
He demanded concrete progress reports on previously announced initiatives, including the establishment of new universities and job creation figures that could be independently verified.
“The unemployment in South Africa is very high amongst young people—it is sitting at 40%—and he can’t be proud that he’s going to give them some money because he gave them money during COVID,” Malema said.
Police corruption claims
Malema linked the President’s address to evidence presented before the AD Hoc Committee (ADOC) and the Madlanga Commission, asserting that the majority of police officers appear to be corrupt.
“That’s why they need the necessary vetting from an independent structure which is not conflicted,” he said.
The EFF leader recalled advising Deputy Police Minister Cassel Mathale upon his appointment never to accept gifts from police generals.
“Because once you do that, they’ve captured you and they’re going to get you into their criminal activities,” Malema said. “Today the President is confirming that the ADOC Committee and the Madlanga Commission have revealed the serious rot which requires the State Security Agency to come and vet SAPS and metros in particular.”
Personal attack on Mathale
In his closing remarks, Malema launched a personal attack on Mathale, who leads a municipality Malema accused of mismanagement.
“You can see that Cassel is a liar,” Malema said. “They’ve been making that municipality a spaza shop. That’s why when you interview him, you must put a five-litre bottle of water next to him, because he will be sweating from lying.”
The EFF leader did not indicate whether his party would support any specific measures arising from the President’s address.