Julius Malema Sets Conditions for EFF Joining GNU, Says DA and FF Plus Must Leave First

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has said the party would be willing to join the Government of National Unity (GNU) if the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Freedom Front Plus (FF+) withdrew, but would not compromise its political principles to enter government.

We are not opposed to participating in GNU. If Helen walks tomorrow, and that other one of Correctional Service, the Freedom Front, walk, we’ll go inside.

Malema’s remarks follow comments by DA Johannesburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille, who said she would not enter a coalition with the EFF. The EFF leader accused Zille of hostility towards the EFF, claiming the party’s independence from white political influence was behind the DA’s refusal to work with it.

Malema said the EFF would not support a GNU that included parties he associated with the killing of liberation struggle figures Chris Hani and Solomon Mahlangu.

We don’t want a GNU that has got murders in it. And they were not asking for freedom to vote, they were asking for freedom to be children. And you killed them. And those are the people we must sit with. We are not going to allow that.

He also rejected claims that the EFF was unsuitable for coalition government because of its political conduct, pointing to the ANC’s own governance challenges. Malema stated that the EFF was focused on winning the upcoming November 4 local government elections rather than speculating about possible coalition arrangements in metropolitan municipalities.