Willie Madikoto of the ruling party is the new Ward 10 councillor.
The ANC in Limpopo has walloped the EFF by snatching Polokwane’s Ward 10 during the recent by-elections.
Ward 10 was previously held by the red berets however the ANC emerged victorious after Julius Malema’s party EFF won the seat three times. EFF councillor Jacob Seshoka stepped down after he was charged with alleged theft of guns and ammunition.
Willie Madikoto of the ruling party is the new Ward 10 councillor after receiving 1811 votes from the 7 110 registered voters making up 52.98 % of the day’s total votes in the ward.
Rueben Madadzhe, ANC provincial secretary said the victory signals 11.8% growth since the 2023 by-elections when the ANC lost the ward by 41.8 percent. He said in a statement that the results of the Ward 10 by-election, on the eve of the 2024 general elections, signifies that their people resonate well with the ANC’s message of unity and building a better life for all.
Malema recently suffered a major blow after more than 1000 EFF supporters returned to the ANC including his childhood friend Jossey Buthane, former EFF provincial chairperson.
Buthane’s move comes barely a week after lambasting EFF president Malema on Facebook, citing that the red beret leader is suffering from power mongering, narcissism, disrespect, public spats, motor mouthing, purging, verbal diarrhoea, ruling with iron fists and autocratic leadership.
He was welcomed by Capricorn region chairperson and Polokwane Executive Mayor John Makoro Mpe , ANC provincial secretary Reuben Madadzhe, ANCYL provincial chairperson Tonny Rachoene and ANCWL provincial chairperson and Capricorn district municipality Mayor Mamedupi Teffo.
The beef between Buthane and Malema gave birth to an ugly wedge after Malema and his cronies disbanded the EFF Limpopo provincial command team led by Buthane following poor results during 2021 local government elections. Malema was also discontent because EFF lost over 20 council seats following those elections. However, Buthane became aggrieved with Malema who betrayed him despite that he was loyal to him during the establishment of EFF unlike his other childhood friend Jacob Lebogo, the former ANCYL provincial leader who remained in the ANC.
Buthane who is gat-vol with Malema who always purged him almost every time he got a platform to address EFF members didn’t hesitate to berate Malema. He purged Malema about his embarrassment when he was left with egg and snot on his face at Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban on Saturday, 10 February 2024, during EFF’s election manifesto.
The pictures of mucus from his nose, was circulated on various social media platforms, which led his detractors to ridicule him labelling his “Ramaminana” which means the mucus man or mucus child.
The humiliated Malema said: “Thank you so much for your concern, fellow brothers and sisters; I don’t have the flu. The heavy wind and rain activated my sinuses, and I thought the rain was running through my face kante I was heavily attacked. Otherwise, that’s the only thing haters can point to; all was super dope. Thank you KZN and the people of South Africa, history was made.”
Buthane who vented his discontentment about Malema’s character assassination on him unapologetic said: “That nonsense of going around insulting and talking nonsense about us must come to an end. We are not scared, and we were never scared of you, we just respected you and your office and mostly took you as a brother. It can't happen that even in our silence you continue to bully us, and we become honourable ones all the time. Continue talking rubbish, you will see, and you will know what we mean. There will be no limits, and no one must try to cool us down because you spoke a lot of nonsense until o e tshwa lemina (you release mucus, and they kept quiet.”
“You disbanded us, we kept quiet, businesspeople knew the details of the disbandment before us we said nothing. You manipulated branch processes in particular ward 13 Polokwane. We kept quiet and even voluntarily gave you your position of deployment and you still think you have a mouth to talk? Wait wena maan stop behaving like a woman who is refusing a divorce. Respect our respect for you and stop this thing you are doing. Your organization has good people and a great future if you can’t respect yourself or at least respect them.”
Meanwhile, some student command of the EFF claimed that Buthane was also brutal to them just like what Malema did to him. They enunciate that Buthane is not a holy cow as well.
Buthane who is also the President of the newly formed Workers Emancipation Trade Union (WETU) known as Stalin said Malema was egotistical and tyrannical hence, he took a decision to re-join the ANC. He said: "At least there [the ANC], when you have differences, you still feel safe in an organisation, you don’t feel patronised, and you don’t feel attacked in your personal space. You can still differ in the ANC and still be a member in good standing, still enjoy rights and benefits in the organisation.” The former EFF leader who brought 190 people to join the ANC said he will continue campaigning for the ANC to ensure that it wins the elections.
“We are going to hurt it [the EFF] badly. As I am speaking to you now, in Sekhukhune current EFF members have left. One of the members brought 217 people and I brought 190 people. We are taking people who are very relevant to the EFF. We are not just taking new people who do not know anything.”
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