EFF leader Julius Malema has denied being a dictator or having no regard for women. Malema was responding to questions during the Wits School of Governance dialogues yesterday referring to their MP Naledi Chirwa, who was fined by the party and made to apologise publicly for failing to attend the Budget Speech in February. Her fine was to buy two gazebos worth R5 000 each.
During the question-and-answer session, one attendee asked Malema why the EFF punished Chirwa for missing this year's budget speech, even after she reported to have had an emergency and that her baby fell ill. Chirwa made headlines after she apologised on social media which she said was one of the disciplinary measures mandated by the EFF. She said her four-month-old daughter was ill that day. "We are a party that puts women first. We are the only party that has been pushing for women to play a bigger role in the political space. When it comes to the issue of Naledi, I was never involved. We are a party that places discipline in high regard. Her senior supervisor is a woman, when she failed to pitch in Parliament, she never mentioned that she was attending to her sick baby," Malema said. He added that the party leaders only learned about the baby being sick on social media.
He went on to accuse Chirwa of failing to ask to be excused on the day and to explain the reasons why she had to rush home. "If my child gets sick now, I will leave this interview and go attend to my sick child. In her case, she never explained to her superiors and when she came back from that emergency it was business as usual. It can't be correct; she was supposed to come back and explain to her superiors why she had to leave. We are a party that respects the rights of women and that is why you find women in every portfolio of the EFF," he said. Since the incident, Chirwa was moved from being number 30 on the party's candidate list for Parliament to being number 200 on the list.
On the upcoming elections and their manifesto, Malema emphasised that EFF was firm on the seven cardinal pillars of the organisation. "We are still pushing for land redistribution without compensation, which the ruling party has tried to manipulate us to abandon. We are the only party is advocating for the employment for the young graduates. We have proven in other municipalities that we are the party which can govern the country," he said. Malema further said that the ruling party was on its knees as it is about to lose KwaZulu Natal after the formation of uMkhonto weSizwe Party and the visibility of the Inkatha Freedom Party. "I never said that we will go into coalition with the ANC, I said when the ANC comes to us and requests our votes, I will tell them to give us the Finance Ministry position so that Floyd Shivambu can run it. They then came up with the VBS allegations that we want to loot the state but that is our condition," he said.
