EFF leader Julius Malema defended his party’s Johannesburg mayoral candidate, Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng, insisting neither the DA’s Helen Zille nor ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba could be compared to her, while accusing the ANC of preparing to recycle leaders responsible for the city’s decline.
Malema was responding to questions on Thursday about the EFF’s decision to field Mofokeng as its candidate to lead South Africa’s economic hub ahead of the November local government elections.
Mofokeng was unveiled during the EFF’s 13th anniversary celebrations and manifesto launch last week Saturday, in Limpopo at the Thohoyandou stadium.
She is expected to contest the Johannesburg mayoralty against candidates including Zille and Mashaba, while the ANC is yet to announce its candidate.
Rejecting suggestions that the EFF had departed from its internal traditions by selecting Mofokeng, Malema said the party was, in fact, establishing a new tradition by publicly announcing mayoral candidates ahead of the elections.
“For the first time we are nominating candidates. We are establishing our new tradition,” he said.
He also dismissed claims that Mofokeng had been brought in from outside the party’s structures, saying she had long participated in the EFF’s policy development processes despite not being a prominent public political figure.
“Dr Tlaleng has always been with the EFF,” Malema said.
“She has always participated in drafting committees of the EFF. When we go to conferences, when we draft manifestos and when we sit in commissions discussing policy, Dr Tlaleng is there.”
He said many overlook her longstanding involvement simply because she was not a full-time public-facing politician.
“You can see her, but you decide not to see her.”
Malema said Mofokeng’s nomination followed an extensive internal democratic process rather than being imposed by the party leadership.
He revealed that EFF leaders voted by secret ballot during a plenary earlier this year to determine the party’s preferred mayoral candidates, with the official announcement deliberately delayed until after the launch of the party’s local government election manifesto.
“We listened to different views and arrived at this decision through democratic centralism,” he said.
Mofokeng is a medical doctor and internationally recognised health advocate.
Malema also contrasted the process with what he described as Mashaba’s self-announcement as ActionSA’s Johannesburg mayoral candidate.
“Unlike Mashaba, who announces himself, you never call him a dictator,” Malema said.
Having defended the selection process, Malema turned his attention to the EFF’s political rivals, arguing that neither Zille nor Mashaba possessed the credentials to be measured against Mofokeng.
“How do you compare Dr Tlaleng with Helen Zille?” he asked.
He described Mofokeng as an accomplished international public servant who had served as the first African United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health and currently advises the UN University International Institute for Global Health.
By contrast, Malema also attacked Zille, describing her as “a rusted person” who continued to promote racism, division and colonialism.
He reserved equally harsh criticism for Mashaba, accusing the ActionSA leader of looking down on poor South Africans.
“Less said about Mashaba the better,” Malema said.
“He thinks very little of poor people.”
Malema further argued that such thinking would have excluded many of South Africa’s liberation leaders, including those who rose from impoverished backgrounds.
“We became leaders before we had anything in our families,” he said.
He also mocked Mashaba’s role during the anti-apartheid struggle, suggesting he had chosen business over political activism.
Malema did not spare the ANC either, warning against the possibility of the governing party returning former Johannesburg leaders to office.
Without naming the ANC’s eventual mayoral candidate, he singled out former Johannesburg mayor Amos Masondo, arguing that many of the city’s current problems originated during his administration.
“He’s responsible for this mess,” Malema said.
He blamed the city’s long-running electricity challenges in Soweto on decisions taken during Masondo’s tenure and criticised former mayor Parks Tau for prioritising projects such as bicycle lanes while many communities still lacked basic services.
“We are in this mess because Parks Tau decided to take money and build bicycle lanes when people still don’t have toilets,” he said.
Malema dismissed the projects as misplaced priorities, arguing they had failed to address the everyday needs of Johannesburg residents.
He said this was precisely why the EFF had chosen a candidate with professional expertise rather than someone whose credentials were rooted solely in party politics.
“That’s why we had to bring someone outside the tradition of just doing politics without being driven by a passion for saving people,” he said.
Malema said the EFF hoped Johannesburg’s voters, particularly the black middle class, would rally behind Mofokeng as they grappled with rising living costs, fuel prices, transport expenses and inflation.
