EFF leader Julius Malema has launched a scathing attack on his former ally, Jossey Buthane, who has since dumped the organisation and rejoined the ANC.
Buthane, former chairperson of the EFF in Limpopo, recently defected to the ANC following a fallout with Malema.
After leaving for the ANC, Buthane claimed, without producing evidence, that at least a thousand EFF members had followed him to the governing party’s ranks.
However, Malema dismissed that claim as nothing but propaganda, saying those who joined the ANC with Buthane were ex-EFF councillors expelled for failing to provide buses to the party’s 10th anniversary rally last year.
The firebrand leader of the red beret brigade slammed Buthane as a charlatan who is out to destroy him but would fail. Malema added that the EFF was not having sleepless nights over the developments in Limpopo, as those are insignificant in the bigger scheme of things.
To him, Buthane was a political mosquito whose bite wouldn’t cause any damage to the EFF, as its head had fought lions and elephants before and emerged unscathed.
“There is nothing that has happened in Limpopo now that is special. I was never made by boys; I made them,” said an agitated Malema. “There is no boy who can destroy me. Why would you think you can outshine the master? Never. No boys can deal with me; I defeated them when I was a child.
“I have had the experience of a 63-year-old at 43. There is nothing that shocks me; when a person is going to sell out the EFF, I see them coming, and I even prepare the leadership. Nothing is shocking in Limpopo and demands any kind of strategy.”
Malema said all the people who left with Buthane could be identified and had been served with expulsion letters.
“Those guys were expelled from the EFF. Go and look at that picture, and come and sit with me. I will tell you one by one that this is so and so; here is the expulsion letter.”
Malema said Buthane was a non-factor for the EFF, which is more concerned about the disruption that has been caused by the MK Party.
In this regard, the EFF was awaiting the next Ipsos poll to see how the MK Party factor has affected its electoral prospects.
Before the endorsement of the MK Party by former ANC president Jacob Zuma, Ipsos had predicted the EFF would score about 16% with a lower voter turnout and close to 20% with a higher voter turnout.
“We are waiting in a very keen way for the next Ipsos polling,” Malema said. He said the party would stick to its lane and attempt to woo undecided voters instead of wasting time preaching to the converted or seeking to convince those opposed to it.
Buthane hit back yesterday on social media, X: “If they expelled more than 1 000 public reps, it means they are left with how many?
“I don’t think the [EFF] leadership was properly briefed.”
