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

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has indicated his party’s openness to joining the Government of National Unity (GNU), but only if the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Freedom Front Plus first exited the arrangement.

Malema made the remarks over the weekend during a door-to-door campaign in Naledi, Soweto, as parties intensify efforts ahead of the 4 November Local Government Elections.

Speaking about the possibility of entering the coalition government, Malema explained what it would take for that to happen.

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

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.

He asked how the EFF could share government with parties he accused of being linked to the deaths of struggle activists and children under apartheid. Malema also 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.