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Malema slams ANC-DA coalition as a 'betrayal of working class'
EFF leader Julius Malema has launched a scathing critique against the ANC, accusing the yellow party of deep political insecurity and a betrayal of the working class through its coalition with the DA.
Speaking at the South African Communist Party's (SACP's) Conference of the Left, Malema aligned his party with the SACP's opinion that the ANC increasingly views any independent political organisation as an act of hostility or betrayal.
The alliance between senior partner the ANC and the SACP has been growing more contentious since the SACP announced it would contest the upcoming local elections independently.
The ANC described the conference as a "coalition of negation".
The SACP responded, calling the ANC's decision "arrogant and indicative of an inward-looking and self-glorifying tendency of those in high positions in the ANC at this time".
Malema argued that the ANC's "aggressive stance" toward independent political movements stemmed from a severe erosion of its historical legitimacy and dominance.
For decades, the ANC held such a central role in South African politics that its leadership began equating the party itself with the entire liberation movement, he said.
"No political formation possesses permanent ownership over history, revolutionary legitimacy, or the aspirations of the working class," Malema stated, warning that the ANC had mistaken its past dominance for an eternal mandate.
He described the new ANC-DA alliance as a profound revelation, claiming that it exposed how deeply sections of the ANC leadership had reconciled with neoliberalism and capitalist management.
"One cannot credibly claim commitment to radical transformation while governing alongside forces historically dedicated to defending white monopoly capital, privatisation, and market fundamentalism," Malema argued.
He further asserted that meaningful social transformation was impossible while public institutions remained crippled by outsourcing, privatisation, and tender systems.
According to Malema, these systems had transformed governance into a mechanism for capital accumulation by politically connected elites.
Malema reframed the fight as for State-led development, including nationalisation, land expropriation, and rapid industrialisation. He said these were not abstract ideological goals, but immediate, material necessities. He insisted that the State could not meet its developmental duties while economic sovereignty remained "surrendered" to private capital.
Looking at the broader global picture, Malema defined the struggle for the Left as a battle for the future of human civilisation.
He challenged the idea that organised inequality was natural or inevitable, asserting that the fight for twenty-first-century socialism was a forward-looking necessity rather than a nostalgic retreat.
"The greatest task facing the Left is therefore also psychological and moral: to restore imagination among the oppressed and to demonstrate once again that societies can be organised differently," Malema said, calling out hopelessness as one of capitalism's most powerful ideological weapons.
He urged that the Conference of the Left must not become another ritual gathering of progressive rhetoric.
EXPLOITATION AND DISPOSSESSION
Meanwhile, in a sharp critique of modern political economy, Malema argued that the current global crisis was capitalism functioning "exactly as intended". He asserted that the system deliberately generated abundance for a privileged minority by organising the deprivation of the global majority.
His belief is that the modern capitalist system accumulates wealth through dispossession, securing comfort for the few by enforcing the permanent insecurity of billions.
He said the system actively encouraged political and psychological fragmentation by turning working groups against one another, citing examples of migrants and citizens, men and women, and poor communities competing for limit...
EFF leader Julius Malema has launched a scathing critique against the ANC, accusing the yellow party of deep political insecurity and a betrayal of the working class through its coalition with the DA.
Speaking at the South African Communist Party's (SACP's) Conference of the Left, Malema aligned his party with the SACP's opinion that the ANC increasingly views any independent political organisation as an act of hostility or betrayal.
The alliance between senior partner the ANC and the SACP has been growing more contentious since the SACP announced it would contest the upcoming local elections independently.
The ANC described the conference as a "coalition of negation".
The SACP responded, calling the ANC's decision "arrogant and indicative of an inward-looking and self-glorifying tendency of those in high positions in the ANC at this time".
Malema argued that the ANC's "aggressive stance" toward independent political movements stemmed from a severe erosion of its historical legitimacy and dominance.
For decades, the ANC held such a central role in South African politics that its leadership began equating the party itself with the entire liberation movement, he said.
"No political formation possesses permanent ownership over history, revolutionary legitimacy, or the aspirations of the working class," Malema stated, warning that the ANC had mistaken its past dominance for an eternal mandate.
He described the new ANC-DA alliance as a profound revelation, claiming that it exposed how deeply sections of the ANC leadership had reconciled with neoliberalism and capitalist management.
"One cannot credibly claim commitment to radical transformation while governing alongside forces historically dedicated to defending white monopoly capital, privatisation, and market fundamentalism," Malema argued.
He further asserted that meaningful social transformation was impossible while public institutions remained crippled by outsourcing, privatisation, and tender systems.
According to Malema, these systems had transformed governance into a mechanism for capital accumulation by politically connected elites.
Malema reframed the fight as for State-led development, including nationalisation, land expropriation, and rapid industrialisation. He said these were not abstract ideological goals, but immediate, material necessities. He insisted that the State could not meet its developmental duties while economic sovereignty remained "surrendered" to private capital.
Looking at the broader global picture, Malema defined the struggle for the Left as a battle for the future of human civilisation.
He challenged the idea that organised inequality was natural or inevitable, asserting that the fight for twenty-first-century socialism was a forward-looking necessity rather than a nostalgic retreat.
"The greatest task facing the Left is therefore also psychological and moral: to restore imagination among the oppressed and to demonstrate once again that societies can be organised differently," Malema said, calling out hopelessness as one of capitalism's most powerful ideological weapons.
He urged that the Conference of the Left must not become another ritual gathering of progressive rhetoric.
EXPLOITATION AND DISPOSSESSION
Meanwhile, in a sharp critique of modern political economy, Malema argued that the current global crisis was capitalism functioning "exactly as intended". He asserted that the system deliberately generated abundance for a privileged minority by organising the deprivation of the global majority.
His belief is that the modern capitalist system accumulates wealth through dispossession, securing comfort for the few by enforcing the permanent insecurity of billions.
He said the system actively encouraged political and psychological fragmentation by turning working groups against one another, citing examples of migrants and citizens, men and women, and poor communities competing for limit...