MASHUDU SADIKE
EFF president Julius Malema has dismissed claims that there are disputes within the party in the run-up to its Gauteng and North West conferences expected to be held from September 2, calling the allegations “gossip”.
This follows allegations by disgruntled members of the red berets that Malema was meddling with the nomination process of the leaders in the upcoming people’s assemblies in the two provinces.
Malema was speaking at a press briefing held at the party’s headquarters, Winnie Madikizela Mandela House, in Joburg on Tuesday.
Asked at the briefing about claims by disgruntled members accusing him of imposing his preferred candidates, Malema dismissed the assertions.
He said: “You are inviting me to gossips because you can’t produce anything.
“Give me one dispute that was brought to me. You can’t bring it. You listen to gossip and do not do thorough work.
“Did they send a letter of grievance to the office of the SG... go get me a copy?”
However, Malema confirmed that they had received a letter from a branch in Soweto Ward 27 that had nothing to do with disputes before the conference.
“The letter says the EFF is dying there and things are not going accordingly. There is no dispute there. It has nothing to do with a dispute. The dispute must be based on the guidelines of the EFF.
“So you can’t just get a disgruntled person writing a letter to you without narrowing it down to what the dispute is.
“There are no disputes in Gauteng.”
Malema accused an ex-employee of the party of fuelling rumours that some members were planning to march to the party’s headquarters.
“There is a lady who comes from the Naturena side who was fired. She worked at the GBV office and she brought a fraudulent medical certificate and then she was fired. She is the one who is going around doing voice recordings about a march to the EFF.
“We are here today, we (were) here yesterday.”
Malema confirmed that regional secretary of Bojanala, Reuben Mohulatsi, was suspended for three years by the organisation after being found guilty of fraud.
“The secretary of Bojanala (Mohulatsi) went to preside over a branch meeting and after that alleged meeting we looked at the attendance register and called random members who were purported to have attended the meeting and found that all of them had not attended that meeting.
“We found that the roll call... all those people were fraudulent signatures and that there was no meeting at all.
“I think the regional secretary of Bojanala went and sat at a toilet and faked signatures and brought it here.
“That is not just fraud it’s undermining the growth of the organisation and therefore it is serious political misconduct which we deal with decisively in the EFF.”