The EFF warned President Cyril Ramaphosa eight years ago that the Oppenheimers and Ruperts would neutralise him and diminish his legacy to that of a man who auctioned off our country and its strategic assets to the highest bidders.
Ramaphosa has subsequently auctioned our sovereignty to asset management companies such as BlackRock, which is why he praises the growth of the JSE.
This has everything to do with the protection of white monopoly capital that is disguised as growth that will be beneficial to us all.
Ramaphosa relegates his presidential obligations at every opportunity. That is why he is selling our ports, railways and our energy generation capacity to the private sector. He is currently seeking to do the same with the water supply.
The country is stuck with a president who does not want to take responsibility for growing the economy, creating jobs, fighting crime, or advancing infrastructure development.
Instead, he is content to be known as the president of promises and eloquence, with no clear action plan, accountability, or intention to materialise any of the things he tells us each time he addresses the nation.
To date, there is no sign of any infrastructure for a bullet train, there are no design plans for a smart city, and there is not even a curriculum for an institution of higher learning in Ekurhuleni.
At the beginning of his tenure, he said “Thuma Mina”, and the country erroneously sent him. As he nears the end of his term, he has nothing to show. He has failed to fight crime, and now the army must be deployed, but we know that they are under-resourced and trained for combat and not to deal with civilians.
Ramaphosa and his government have demonstrated that they have no plan to fix our municipalities as they continue their outdated equitable share model.
Crime in our country is a social crisis rooted in unemployment, substance abuse and school dropouts, and driven by drug syndicates and trafficking networks that have infiltrated the state through the ANC’s factional control of law enforcement and intelligence.
We were promised economic growth of 3% through infrastructure investment; now the president is silent, and the Treasury only speaks of a 1.5% projection.
But even the budget surplus is nothing to celebrate, as it is a result of implementing austerity measures despite being crippled by massive unemployment, collapsing municipal infrastructure and poverty, which is leading to the death of children in the Eastern Cape.
As the only political party that is dedicated to uplifting the lives of ordinary South Africans, the EFF cannot accept the fallacy that our country no longer has an electricity crisis simply because the people of Sandton and Sandhurst no longer experience power cuts.
The truth is, they are insulated while people in Soweto, Seshego, Mdantsane, Ditsobotla, and other townships contend with what is now called load reduction.
Despite the billions of rands allocated to municipalities to deal with infrastructure and town planning, they have failed to deal decisively with the water crisis.
Ramaphosa and his government have demonstrated that they have no plan to fix our municipalities as they continue their outdated equitable share model.
A progressive government would prioritise funding municipalities and counter the massive de-industrialisation that is contributing to the high rate of unemployment.
We believe that municipal capacity can be strengthened by focusing on recovering revenue from major industries that consume electricity and water in bulk.
Such companies must be given incentives for rate paying, which will compel them to invest in developing municipal infrastructure such as roads, water, electricity, clinics and schools.
It is through such interventions and ensuring that industries operate in functioning municipalities that the lives of our people will improve, and sustainable jobs will be created.
The EFF will always be the voice of the marginalised and voiceless, and we will hold the president accountable without fear or favour. We will not be silenced by speeches from a man who has consistently proved that the protection of his comrades far supersedes his mandate to serve our people.
Ramaphosa has failed to remove his political burden, Senzo Mchunu, for being part of the infiltration of the SA Police Service and disbanding the political killings task team. Taxpayers are still paying Mchunu’s salary.
A president who is committed to addressing service delivery failures that are tantamount to constitutional violations would have removed water and sanitation minister Pemmy Majodina, as she does not have a clue how to address the water crisis.
South Africans have not experienced the transparency that Ramaphosa promised us. CR17 documents remained sealed, and he used his parliamentary majority to block an investigation into Phala Phala.
Our people deserve to know what happened. We are tired of criminal ANC presidents and we are ready to take our position as an alternative government that will produce mayors and public representatives who will serve our people without shielding corruption.
- Malema is the president of the EFF
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