“If we sell our soul‚ if we compromise the radical EFF‚ we can have the biggest posters we want. But we’re not going to do that. We will rely on ourselves to finance the EFF‚ not anyone else‚” he said.

Malema said that R7‚000 of his salary was given to the party monthly to ensure that it could be financially self-sufficient. This was also the reason for the party deducting 50% of all 78 of its councillors’ salaries for the first three months of their term‚ and 10% every month after that.

“We’re taking half of their salaries‚ and we’re not apologising about that. Let me explain why we are taking their money. The EFF must be self sustainable. If the EFF doesn’t have its own money it will depend on people who have money. And who are the people with money? It’s white people. So we’re going to have to ask money from white people.

“The people who give you money are the people who control you; you can’t bite the hand that is feeding you. So the day we go and take white people’s money‚ that’s the day the EFF is gone. That’s how the ANC was destroyed; it went to take the money of white capital‚” he said.

Malema was speaking at a meeting of the so-called People’s General Assembly in Durban following the disbanding of the party’s provincial structures following unsatisfactory performance in the August local government elections.

He said that the ANC “sold out to white monopoly capital” from the moment Nelson Mandela was released from prison.

“Mandela was the most radical politician you can come across‚ but when Mandela came out of prison he did not have a suit of his own‚ he did not have a car of his own‚ he did not have a decent place [to live]. That big name called Mandela did not have a decent bed to sleep on.

“The ANC had not prepared for the release of Nelson Mandela. And those with money came and captured Nelson Mandela‚ and that’s how Nelson Mandela compromised the principles of nationalisation. The reality is that the man didn’t have anywhere to go to. The ANC didn’t have money…and those with money captured Mandela and‚ ultimately‚ captured the ANC.

“If we can’t raise our own money through methods which will not compromise the radicalism of the EFF then we are gone. We will go the same route Mandela went‚” said Malema.

He added that when he went to London he was asked to tone down a “little bit”.

His response: “Tone down for what? For who? We are not going to compromise.”

TMG Digital