South African opposition Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema on Thursday said the ruling African National Congress manipulated the 2019 general elections and did not secure an outright majority in Gauteng Province, the country’s most industrialised province.
While the EFF did better than in the 2014 elections, gaining 44 MPs in the National Assembly, Malema claimed the African National Congress “will govern Gauteng fraudulently.
”The ANC didn’t get 50% (in Gauteng). They have manipulated the elections like they did in 2014,” he told reporters at a post-election briefing at the EFF headquarters in Johannesburg.
But as a “peace loving” organisation, he said, the EFF has accepted the provincial results and would work hard to unseat the ANC.
The EFF garnered 14.69% in Gauteng and the main opposition Democratic Alliance 27.45%, while the ruling ANC won by 50.19%.
The ANC has yet to respond to the allegations by the EFF, which failed to win any province. The DA was the only opposition party that won a region after it took Western Cape Province.
Malema made the charges five days after the country’s Independent Elections Commission and the international community declared last week’s national polls to be “free and fair.”
NM/jn/APA