By Akani Nkuna
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema on Sunday accused the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) of rigging and deliberate misrecording of election results, saying the party needed “vigilant” agents and stronger systems to monitor voting processes.
“The IEC, amongst its staff members, there are thugs and their role is to steal votes. So that is why we need vigilant men and women who are never tired, who understand they must pay attention to [the finer] details if you are dealing with thugs,” Malema said.
He was speaking at the closing session of the EFF’s second plenum of its 3rd National People’s Assembly at the Birchwood Hotel in Gauteng, after a three-day gathering focused on political objectives and preparing for local government elections.
He said the party should develop a tracking system to monitor the locations of party agents throughout election observation duties, adding that voting-station work is susceptible to human error and that the IEC’s actions must be verified by EFF representatives.
Malema also criticised “permanent elections”, saying frequent by-elections were wasteful and distracted poor communities with constant campaigning.
“We need to fight this thing of permanent elections. In South Africa elections are every Wednesday. Every Wednesday there is a by-election which is expensive [in the same way that general elections are expensive] if not worse,” he said.
He said the policy of by-elections should change so that a vacant councillor post created by death or resignation could be filled by a replacement from the party the councillor represented, as voters choose parties rather than individuals.
Malema told party deployees in municipalities and provincial governments to prioritise fighting corruption and poverty.
“[W]e have a duty to fight corruption and to declare corruption as enemy number one. Instead of the DA declaring the EFF as enemy number one, they should be declaring corruption, poverty, as enemy number one because that is what it is; the enemy number one of this country is corruption that leads to poverty.”
He also called for tougher action against Israel, saying the decision to declare Israel’s chargé d’affaires persona non grata should be followed by closing the Israeli embassy.
He said the United States should be blamed for supporting and arming Israel.
“There is no Israel that is attacking Palestine. Palestine is being attacked by America. For as long as America supports Israel’s attack on Palestine, then it must be blamed for the children who are dying in Palestine,” Malema said.
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