By Johnathan Paoli
EFF leader Julius Malema has blamed the ANC’s decision to form a Government of National Unity (GNU) with the DA and other parties for what he described as the consolidation of white supremacy in South Africa, adding that the 2026 local government election results reflected the consequences of the political agreement.
Speaking at a media briefing on Saturday following the announcement of provisional election results, Malema accused the ANC of betraying the liberation struggle by entering government with parties whose policies he claimed threatened the gains of democracy.
“The liberation movement betrayed Chris Hani, Peter Mokaba and Winnie Mandela in 2024, and betrayed what was taught to us by those who liberated us,” Malema said.
“The consolidation and success of white supremacy and right-wing forces in these 2026 local government elections is not an accident of history. These forces were legitimised and endorsed by the former liberation movement through their inclusion in government following the 2024 provincial and national elections,” he said.
He specifically criticised the allocation of portfolios including Home Affairs, Basic Education, Communications and Digital Technologies, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Public Works and Infrastructure, and Correctional Services to parties outside the former liberation movement.
Malema also accused the ANC of effectively endorsing policies opposed to transformation, including efforts to stop Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Act and land expropriation without compensation.
“The former liberation movement endorsed the right wing which wants to reverse the gains of 1994,” he said.
The EFF experienced a significant decline in its national electoral support, receiving about 1.8 million votes, or 6.26%, compared with 2.4 million votes and 10.31% in the 2021 local government elections.
Malema said that the decline was particularly evident in metropolitan areas, but maintained that the results should be understood within the context of what he said was a growing political fragmentation among progressive forces.
He also made allegations about the influence of Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum over the DA, claiming it controlled the party’s leadership through political pressure.
“It is a victory for AfriForum, which controls who leads the Democratic Alliance by blackmailing them using their Afrikaner lobby. It is a victory for the Boeremag, who want to take this country back to apartheid,” he said.
Malema also accused institutions associated with the Oppenheimer family, including the Urban Foundation and the Brenthurst Foundation, of having helped infiltrate and undermine the former liberation movement.
He claimed that these efforts had contributed to the return of political power to what he described as white supremacist forces.
Despite the EFF’s electoral decline, Malema said the party would not abandon its political programme and called on progressive parties to unite rather than allow their support to become fragmented.
“Our message as the EFF to all progressive forces is simple: it is either we unite or perish,” he said.
The party also reported gains in ward representation, increasing from 19 wards in 2021 to 37 in the latest elections, including new victories in Johannesburg, Buffalo City and Mangaung.
Malema said the EFF would use the results to reorganise itself and prepare for the 2029 provincial and national elections.
INSIDE POLITICS
