Categories: South Africa
| On 6 years ago

EFF: We will vote for an ‘Mcebisi Jonas’ as Port Elizabeth mayor

By Gosebo Mathope

The EFF will not change its decision on the motion of no confidence against DA mayor Athol Trollip in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro, though it is not “willing to vote with the ANC if they ever put a corrupt candidate”.

Party spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi reiterated that the party had given the ANC “a clear idea of the measure of a person that should lead Nelson Mandela Bay”.

“Such a person has to be an Mcebisi Jonas or come close to him in terms of integrity, anti-corruption and leadership qualities,” Ndlozi said in a statement earlier today.

He said this decision was taken in retaliation to the “attitude of the DA on the land question in parliament” and announced that the EFF will be tabling a motion of no confidence in Trollip on 6 April.

“No amount of deliberate misrepresentation of the CIC Julius Malema’s statements as hate speech will deter us from punishing the DA for their attitude on the land question,” Ndlozi said.

READ MORE: EFF views DA like a rebound girlfriend, until it finds a real lover – Malema

Earlier during the week EFF chief whip Floyd Shivambu fired off a tweet a few hours after parliament overwhelmingly voted to set in motion processes to amend section 25 of the constitution, which deals with property rights.

The amendment is ultimately aimed at providing a legislative framework for government to be able to expropriate land without compensation. This was also one of the resolutions of the ANC’s recent national conference.

The concurrence of the EFF and the ruling party during a fierce debate on Tuesday in which party leader Julius Malema called COPE MP and former anti-apartheid activist Moisioua Lekota a “historical mistake” was the first time the two political foes have found common ground in parliament.

RELATED: EFF-DA divorce seems on the cards

In another temperamental tweet in response to Western Cape premier Helen Zille’s lambasting the EFF in which she referenced Crispian Olver’s book “How To Steal a City,” Malema shot back at Zille and said the EFF “doesn’t care” about the alleged corruption of the ANC in Port Elizabeth. Earlier in the week he told supporters in Soweto they wanted to teach the DA a lesson and show whites they mean business on the land debate.

Janice Atkinson‚ a member of the European Parliament representing the right-wing and pro-Brexit Europe of Nations and Freedom Group has written to British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson‚ saying he needs to “mediate” with South African officials following the National Assembly’s passing of a motion to investigate land expropriation without compensation.