By Lebone Rodah Mosima
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has accused the State Security Agency (SSA) of using R12 million in public funds to infiltrate and destabilise the EFF and the Fees Must Fall movement, during the final rally at the Orlando Amstel Arena in Soweto.
Speaking at the party’s Tshela Thupa rally on Saturday, Malema said revelations about the SSA’s operation against the EFF confirmed what the party had long suspected. The matter is currently in trial, with the media applying to be granted access.
Turning to local government, Malema said municipalities had been captured by service providers, contractors, corrupt officials and politicians, who had turned public finances into their personal bank accounts.
He said residents were left with broken promises and failing infrastructure.
“These are not stories we read in newspapers. These are the problems our people told us about when we knocked on their doors, and we saw them with our own eyes, because we live in these communities,” he said.
He said waste was not being collected, illegal dumping sites were piling up in villages and townships, and water infrastructure was broken.
Malema said residents in Hammanskraal, Bronkhorstspruit, Giyani, eThekwini, uMkhanyakude and parts of the Eastern Cape went days and weeks without clean running water.
In Hammanskraal, he said people had died of cholera because the City of Tshwane had failed to fix the Rooiwal Wastewater Treatment Works.
Years later, residents still did not trust the water coming out of their taps because the city continued to put their lives at risk with unsafe water, he said.
In Giyani, he said billions of rands had been spent on a water project, yet residents continued to walk long distances with buckets to fetch water.
“The money went to consultants and contractors. Even today, the people of Giyani are still waiting for water,” he said.
Malema also highlighted Johannesburg’s hijacked-building crisis, saying criminal syndicates had taken over buildings in Hillbrow, Berea, Joubert Park and Marshalltown and collected rent from desperate people who had nowhere else to live.
He said the party had not forgotten the 77 people who died in the Marshalltown fire in August 2023, in a building owned by the City of Johannesburg.
He further raised concerns about extortion, saying criminal gangs demanded so-called protection fees from spaza shops, taverns, hair salons, taxi owners and small contractors.
Those who refused to pay were threatened, their businesses were burnt, and some were killed, he said.
He added that construction sites were being shut down by armed groups demanding a share of every project, forcing some contractors to abandon their work.
Malema said the EFF respected the will of voters, arguing that when no single party received an outright majority, voters were indicating that no party should govern alone.
“We respect that decision. We do not undermine it. That is why the EFF has been the most stable coalition partner in South African local government,” he said.
“We respect coalitions. We respect agreements. We respect the people who voted for all the parties in those coalitions.”
However, he said respecting coalition agreements did not mean protecting wrongdoing.
The EFF would hold its coalition partners accountable, even if doing so put its positions at risk, he said.
He said revelations about the State Security Agency and its operation against the EFF confirmed what the party had long known.
He noted the EFF as a threat to the capitalist establishment, the corrupt and a state that had failed its people.
“That is why the State Security Agency, through Project Mayibuye, used R12 million of public money to infiltrate both the EFF and Fees Must Fall. They planted spies in our ranks. They tried to divide us, to weaken us and to win our members back to the ANC,” he said.
He said the operation had failed and that the EFF remained intact.
He praised party members who had stood firm despite being spied on, lied about and targeted by agents.
He further alleged that Project Mayibuye’s agenda had continued in different forms after the money stopped, through attempts to collapse the EFF and hand its leadership and members to Jacob Zuma and the MK Party.
Malema also addressed gender-based violence and femicide, describing them as enemies of the revolution that had to be confronted head-on.
With the 4 November elections approaching, he urged party members to remain disciplined, focused and united.
He called on members to return to the new voters registered during the campaign, as well as residents they had visited at their homes, invited to rallies and met at community meetings.
“Remind them that we came because they matter, and ask them to come out and vote EFF,” he said.
He said party agents had to be present at every voting station before the doors opened and remain until the last ballot had been counted and the results slip signed.
“We do not trust that our votes will be protected, so we will protect them ourselves,” he said.
Addressing young people, Malema urged them to vote in large numbers and defend their future.
He said the election was about whether young people would have water, jobs, safe streets and dignity in their communities.
“Fellow South Africans, you deserve water that is clean, streets that are lit, roads that are safe and a municipality that treats you with respect,” he said.
“You deserve leaders who love you enough to serve you. That is what the EFF offers, and that is why we ask for your vote.”
As he brought the campaign to a close, he thanked the party’s leadership, provincial and sub-regional structures, branches, volunteers and ground forces for their work.
He urged members to finish the campaign strongly, saying he had done everything humanly possible and did not regret leading it.
He also apologised to those he may have offended during the campaign.
“I’m not perfect and never claimed to be perfect. To those I have offended, I’m very sorry; it was never personal. At times emotions run high as a result of the pressure that comes with the election trail, but otherwise it was a good campaign, and I remain very proud of all of you,” he said.
He ended with a call for victory, telling party members: “Let’s go win, Fighters. Between Victory and Death, we choose victory, because we are not a bunch of losers. All we do is win, no matter what.”
