East London - Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema on Saturday criticised the Eastern Cape government for "neglecting" the people of the province.
Addressing a capacity crowd in the 15 000-seat Sisa Dukashe Stadium in Mdantsane in East London in the Eastern Cape during the EFF's fifth birthday celebrations, Malema said the Eastern Cape had produced "giants of the struggle for liberation", but the current African National Congress-led government was corrupt.
#EFFTurns5 Malema: Today, the electricity tariffs in Buffalo City are expensive because they are trying to make this city a metro and for it to be a metro, they must generate a certain income and so they raise electricity tariffs.
— #EFFTurns5 (@EFFSouthAfrica) July 28, 2018
Malema referred to the Amathole toilet tender saga, which was later found to have been irregularly awarded and eventually cancelled.
"Those politicians stole the money through their families and when you look for them you'll find them in the cabinet called a new dawn. If you don't know a mud school, if you don't know a pit toilet in a school, just become a tourist in [the] Eastern Cape and you will know how mud schools look like, you will see how the pit toilet looks like," he said.
#EFFTurns5 Malema: There is huge corruption in that Buffalo City because the ANC people are hiring their own family members, their hire their girlfriends and boyfriends.
— #EFFTurns5 (@EFFSouthAfrica) July 28, 2018
He claimed Buffalo City municipality was the most corrupt. "There is huge corruption in that Buffalo City because the ANC people are hiring each other through relatives," said Malema.
EFF leader Julius Malema (right), his deputy Floyd Shivambu, and EFF spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi greet EFF supporters. Photo: ANA
"If you [are] not the member of their family they will never hire you, they hire their own boyfriends and girlfriends. When you want a job and you are a female they want to sleep with you first at Buffalo City before they give you a job," he said.
[In Case You Missed It]: Watch @Julius_S_Malema telling the crowds that we are going to die in Revolution #EFFTurns5 pic.twitter.com/G1AXxFwUdJ
— #EFFTurns5 (@EFFSouthAfrica) July 28, 2018
Buffalo City should not have been made a metro municipality because this had increased the rates for people dependent on government grants.
“Today we have an extremely high cost of electricity at Buffalo City because they wanted to turn it into a metro, and for it to be a metro it must generate a particular income. They made electricity [expensive] and now these old men and women can't even afford electricity with that money of Sassa [South African Social Security Agency]. How do you give people money and come at night to steal that money in the name of electricity," Malema said.