EFF leader Julius Malema. Picture: Itumeleng English/African News Agency (ANA) Archives
Durban - EFF leader Julius Malema has urged councillors of the party to be caring towards their communities, humble, down to earth, and take care of the elderly and ensure that they all received their social grants.
Malema has been addressing an EFF Siyabonga Rally in Waterberg, Limpopo, on Saturday where the EFF won Ward 3 in the November local government elections.
Addressing the crowd in Mogalakwena, Ward 3, Malema said that they as the leadership of the party were in the area to simply thank the community for putting their trust in the EFF.
He told the gathered crowd of EFF supporters clad in the party's regalia, that through its vote for the red berets they had heard the message of the EFF, and told everyone in South Africa and Africa that it was possible to be led by the EFF.
"We want our councillor here in Ward 3 to take care of the elderly, and also know the whole village, and know everyone. Don’t say ‘we are waiting to be government’, ‘we are waiting for a tractor’. A tractor is not needed, what is needed is hard work. As a councillor, you must know the houses of the elderly, and every morning you must go and check if they are okay.
"If you do all of that, then the people will know that the EFF is a caring organisation. It might be one person, but the fact that you might have helped a person who cannot help him/herself – this whole community will know, and will as such respect the EFF. There must be no elderly person who does not receive Sassa money," Malema said.
Continuing his Siyabonga Rally address, Malema urged his supporters that there must be no child whose parent does not work or who does not receive social grants, adding that when someone in the community dies, an EFF councillor should arrive first at the home of the deceased and ask about how they will manage the funeral arrangements.
"As an EFF councillor, you must go and fight there at the municipality, so that the roads to the burial sites and roads into the village are maintained. There shouldn’t be a house under normal society without water and electricity, because the issue of water and electricity is a basic necessity. As EFF councillors, we must help children and women who are abused at home to get the abusers arrested," Malema said.
He also touched on the issue of the land, telling the community not to get tired until they get "back our land".
“This is our land. We want all the mines here in Mogalakwena. There is a lot of platinum here, but we don’t benefit from it. That is why the EFF says it wants the mines to be nationalised, so that our people can benefit,” Malema said.
samkelo.mtshali@inl.co.za
Political Bureau