EFF candidate: Mike Mathebe

POLOKWANE – Mike Mathebe, EFF convener for Limpopo is the party’s candidate for Limpopo premier.

Mike grew up in the Moutse area near Groblersdal in Ga-Bokwane. After he matriculated, he obtained a diploma in public administration through the former Technicon RSA and worked at the then department of development aid.

His interest in politics started between 1984 and 1985 while he was still at school. He later joined the United Democratic Front (UDF), the Black Consciousness Movement and the Transvaal Rural Action Committee.

He joined the ANC in 1990 and served the party in various capacities. He was chairperson of the party’s Ga-Bokwane branch, member of the Moutse East sub-regional committee, served as regional treasurer and member of the provincial finance committee of the ANC and was a member of the South African Non-Governmental Organisations Coalition (Sangoco) dealing with land issues. He later headed the first land reform pilot project in Mpumalanga.

Mathebe feels that the land issue is a very important issue and, if the current ANC government keeps buying land at the rate they are doing, it would take between 200 and 300 years for all South Africans to own land. He agrees with the EFF’s viewpoint that all privately-owned and occupied land should be state-owned and the state should grant licences to use the land. If a person does not use their land, the state should take it back, he says.

“It will not be a Zimbabwean-style approach. Land will be in the hands of the state, those who qualify will get land. Land will not be distributed according to the colour of your skin and a transfer of skills will take place. The EFF wants to see the country move to another level. Those not using the land will lose the right to occupy it,” says Mathebe.

“There will not be corruption or looting, as it is happening now.”

Mathebe joined the EFF in 2013. “We tried to influence the processes at Mangaung. Zuma was supposed to be president for only one term, it was a political arrangement. We were surprised when he said he wanted a second term. Julius was ousted from the ANC. We realised we were defeated inside the ANC and the only option was to establish an alternative, so we formed the EFF. We wanted nationalisation and the willing buyer, willing seller concept to be stopped. It was not working and the land issue was important, we must take the land by expropriation,” he explained his departure from the ANC.

According to Mathebe, capitalism makes the poor only poorer and the EFF leans more towards socialism. “I like reading, especially political history. For a better future, socialism is the answer. We must take from the rich and give to the poor and have fewer rich people in this country.”

Asked about Julius Malema’s former R15 million house in Sandton and his speeding ticket driving a BMW he said, “when in Rome, do what they do”.

“The top echelons of the ANC are birds of a feather. They live lives of luxury and opulence. Julius is back to reality now. He knew he would lose everything. He chose going back to the basics.” About the BMW X5, he said the car did not belong to Malema and was on loan. “How will people take you seriously as a leader? If he goes to Alexandra driving a Toyota Tazz they will tell him he can’t park here, this is for their leader.”