Malema wants party secretary general Marshall Dlamini as KZN premier

Bearing grudges: Marshall Dlamini. Photo: Phill Magakoe/Getty Images

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) president Julius Malema has touted party secretary general Marshall Dlamini as the party’s preferred candidate for the KwaZulu-Natal premier. 

Malema said this during his speech at the party’s final rally ahead of the much-anticipated elections. 

He said that the party’s deputy president Floyd Shivambu should be the finance minister. 

The EFF leader delivered a speech geared towards the youth in his last appeal for South Africans to vote for the party on Saturday at Peter Mokaba stadium. 

The EFF held its final rally in Limpopo where the party is hoping to retain its position as the official opposition and garner more votes. 

He told supporters who attended the rally at the 46 000-capacity stadium that it would deliver a more stable South Africa free of load-shedding, unemployment and crime. 

Malema said that the party would deploy capable leaders including those from other parties who would help bring about a more sustainable economy. 

Having crisscrossed the country in the last few weeks, the party leader detailed some of the issues faced by the country’s nine provinces some of which include access to clean drinking water, housing, inequality and poverty. 

Malema said that the EFF’s campaign had run smoothly as leaders of the party and its volunteers had spoken with one voice. 

“None of our leaders wanted to outshine one another,” he said, adding that its guiding principle during elections was “many voices, one message”. 

The EFF leader said he would commit to fighting criminality and corrupt politicians should he be voted into power. 

He said that should he be voted in as state president, part of his mission would be an investigation into President Cyril Ramaphosa and the infamous Phala Phala scandal. 

“I commit that when I am president, I will not be involved in any form of wrongdoing and corruption,” he said. 

Malema said that he would protect the country’s natural resources. 

The EFF could not fill up the Peter Mokaba stadium in Limpopo. The move to hold the final rally at the stadium in Malema’s home province was seen as a strategic move by the party to demonstrate its advantageous position going into the elections. 

He said no government worker would be paid less than R10 000 under his government adding that government employees including those that the party will insource will also be eligible for medical aid, pension fund and leave days. 

The party has maintained that it is aiming for one million votes in Gauteng and another million votes in KwaZulu-Natal to secure its targets. 

This goal was threatened by former president Jacob Zuma when he endorsed the umKhonto weSizwe party in December. His popularity in KwaZulu-Natal has threatened the ANC, EFF as well as the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in the province. 

The EFF was hoping to gain enough votes to leverage for positions should the party go into coalitions. The DA has also expressed that it has no interest in going into a coalition with the EFF labelling it enemy number one.

Pleading his case for EFF to receive votes in the 29 May elections Malema said that he had demonstrated over the years that he was “not a sell-out” adding that he had no history of selling out those loyal to him. 

He added that should the party receive a majority, he would schedule his inauguration as the country’s president on 16 June in honour of the 1976 generation.