President Cyril Ramaphosa and Julius Malema. Image: @cyrilramaphosa via X (formerly known as Twitter)
After 29 May 2024, will South Africans get a ‘Deputy President Julius Malema’?
Who’s to say South Africa won’t have ‘President Cyril Ramaphosa’ from the ANC and ‘Deputy President Julius Malema’ from the EFF?
President Cyril Ramaphosa and Julius Malema. Image: @cyrilramaphosa via X (formerly known as Twitter)
Which executive position will commander-in-chief (CIC) of the Economic Freedom Fighters, Julius Malema, hold in South Africa after the votes have been tallied for the 29 May 2024 general elections? Will it be deputy president Malema, finance minister or could it be head of state?
‘Deputy President’ Julius Malema: Yay or nay?
The question was posed to Malema on 14 March during a Rand Merchant Bank-organised gathering, Melting Pot, moderated by the bank’s chief economist and head of research, Isaah Mhlanga, and journalist Sam Mkokeli.
Asked by Mkokeli (from the 1:06:20 mark), presumably lightheartedly, when he would be returning to RMB’s Melting Pot, and in what capacity, “as finance minister or deputy president”, Malema coyly responded: “I’m going to come back as Julius Malema. It doesn’t matter which title I occupy. But you can be rest assured [sic] that after these elections, I will be playing an important role in this government.”
Mkokeli repeated the question about “deputy president Julius Malema”, to which the self-styled CIC responded: “Leave that to 29 May. Why do you choose deputy president? You are undermining me. Why are you not choosing president?” eliciting raucous laughter from the audience.
What the polls say
According to election polls, the ANC should see its voter support decreasing to below 50% after the general elections on 29 May 2024, opening the way for a coalition government at national level.
An Ipsos poll sees the ANC sliding to less than 40% of the vote, while the Social Research Foundation’s numbers predict a 45% share of the spoils for the liberation movement.
A recent survey by the Brenthurst Foundation, released on 10 March 2024, “found that the ANC’s support has fallen to 39%“, according to Daily Maverick.
ANC-EFF marriage
However, should the predictions that the ANC’s support will dip come to fruition, former chief executive of the Institute of Race Relations, Frans Cronje, foresees the ANC and EFF (third-biggest political party behind the Democratic Alliance [DA]) cosying up to each other.
“Should it [ANC] choose to go into coalition with the EFF, that will not be the end of the world. It’ll just be a massive shock to sentiment and accelerate the trendline ANC support has been on for 15 years. It will be the midwife of a future centrist coalition government for South Africa,” he said.
Although a DA-EFF arrangement is unlikely, owing to DA leader John Steenhuisen declaring the Red Berets “political enemy number one” in April 2023, a DA-ANC symbiosis is possible.
But an ANC-EFF tryst is the likelier outcome, as seen in the City of Ekurhuleni council, where both parties share power and positions, albeit chaotically.
If similar agreements can be reached in Parliament, who’s to say we won’t have President Cyril Ramaphosa from the ANC and Deputy President Julius Malema from the EFF?
