Ronald Lamola has fired shots at Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema, seemingly defending the African National Congress (ANC) and its leaders.
Lamola was responding to Malema, who last week said the EFF was open to entering into a coalition agreement with the ANC after the 2024 general elections.
Malema, however, said the red berets would prefer ANC treasurer-general Paul Mashatile to lead the governing party.
Malema told News24 that his party opposed working with the Democratic Alliance (DA) to unseat the ANC from the national government.
With no political party expected to win an outright majority in the 2024 polls to form a government, Malema said the EFF did not want to have DA leader John Steenhuisen as South Africa’s next president.
“The ANC in 2024 needs a radical leftist coalition [partner] that will force its hand and say if you don’t push this direction, you will likely get John Steenhuisen as president, the same way you have these mayors in Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, and Tshwane,” the EFF leader was quoted as saying.
Malema said the EFF was “being forced to choose the better evil” in the form of the ANC but did not want President Cyril Ramaphosa to have a second term in office as the ANC’s leader because he apparently “hates black people”.
READ MORE: EFF will work with ANC to avoid Steenhuisen as president, says Malema
The ANC must be guided by its policies
But Lamola says the EFF should not be trusted because they often change their minds when the situation suits them.
“It can’t be someone who stands up in a press briefing and threaten the whole ANC. When it suits them, Paul Mashatile is a useless person. He’s a junior leader of the ANC; we cannot negotiate with him. Not long ago, when we could not have a 50% majority, they said we couldn’t negotiate with Paul Mashatile.
“Today Paul Mashatile is the best, and he must lead the ANC. These are the kind of characters that must guide the ANC. The ANC must be guided by its policies, resolutions and strategies and tactics,” said Lamola on Sunday.
In fact, Lamola says Malema should make way for his deputy Floyd Shivambu, with Mbuyiseni Ndlozi as the party’s secretary-general.
“I think Floyd Shivambu can lead the EFF. I think he’s solid, and he can lead the EFF. We cannot have a permanent leader.
“Floyd and [Mbuyiseni] Ndlozi, looking at them properly, we must nominate them. I think they’re ready.
“Those comrades are ready, and they have been tried and tested. We must campaign for Floyd Shivambu to lead the EFF. Ndlozi is fit to be secretary-general of the EFF; he has been there, qualifies and even has a doctorate. He can lead that thing.”
Taking to Twitter, Malema only laughed at Lamola’s comments.
“I set the agenda for these fools, especially this one who speaks like he’s constipated,” Malema tweeted.
‘Mashatile is a schemer’
During the EFF’s media briefing last year, Malema called Mashatile a “schemer” who cannot be trusted.
“Paul Mashatile is one of the most dishonest people ever, and you must never meet that guy and think something will happen.
“He’s a schemer, he did that to EFF many times, and one of the things we did was to demand that Paul must not sit in a meeting where the EFF is going to be present because we don’t trust anything that comes out of Paul’s mouth, he’s not honest, so we would rather deal with people who are honest.”
NOW READ: Malema: EFF will ‘never get tired’ of pushing for Ramaphosa, Godongwana’s resignations
Additional reporting by Thapelo Lekabe
