Pravin Gordhan EFF

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan. File photo: Kopano Tlape/ GCIS

Flip-flop or not? Julius Malema explains why EFF turned on Pravin Gordhan

Julius Malema and the EFF defended Pravin Gordhan during the Jacob Zuma regime. Here’s how their relationship soured so quickly.

Pravin Gordhan EFF

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan. File photo: Kopano Tlape/ GCIS

Once upon a time, Julius Malema and the EFF used to stand-up for Pravin Gordhan. They were fully in his corner during Jacob Zuma’s destructive administration and backed him all the way after he was axed during the infamous “midnight Cabinet reshuffle”. But, as we saw on Thursday, everything has changed dramatically.

Julius Malema explains “flip-flopping” on Pravin Gordhan

The Red Berets stalled Parliament for more than an hour-and-a-half on Thursday, protesting about the presence of Gordhan and FW de Klerk in Parliament. But the former had once been an ally of sorts: The third-biggest party in South Africa even sang and danced for his cause in 2017. But Julius Malema has been compelled to tell the media why it all went sour between them:

“At the time we defended Pravin Gordhan, there was no load shedding. He was not the minister of public enterprises back then. Neither Eskom nor SAA were closing down before he came in. The political climate has changed. At the time, Zuma wanted to persecute Pravin, we defended him on a matter of principle.”

“But now the conditions are different. If you were saying to me ‘you defended Pravin Gordhan when there was load shedding’, I could understand. But for those of you saying were are flip-flopping, we must buy you a dictionary.”

Julius Malema

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Gordhan and the EFF have not seen eye-to-eye for a while now. Pravin has been described as a “Constitutional delinquent” by Juju, and someone who is “beyond reproach” in the eyes of Ramaphosa

The Red Berets are frustrated with him for allegedly “dodging accountability”, and believe his work with the SARS Rogue Unit and battles with the public protector should have cost him his role in Cabinet. They also like to push a conspiracy that Pravin is secretly running the country though a clandestine cabal – but we won’t entertain that narrative.

Meanwhile, Gordhan himself has pursued hate speech charges against Julius Malema and believes the EFF leader is a tax cheat. When the party claimed PG’s daughter was a corrupt businesswoman, the feud became personal and the mutual hatred transcended the boundaries of political viewpoints.

We know it’s a bit early, but there’ll be no exchange of Christmas cards between the two this year.