EFF leader Julius Malema said party leaders must have a minimum qualification of matric and that the party would be conducting an audit to find out if any party leaders did not have this basic requirement.
“Fighters we are going into elections next year, but let me tell you, I discovered that a lot of EFF public representatives have not gotten qualifications, they didn’t go to school.
“In January 2024, we are coming back to do an audit, the ones without matric will be released from their duties.”
Malema was speaking to delegates as the party marked its tenth anniversary.
He said those without matric had until February 8 to register and complete it by the end of this year.
This applies to EFF leaders who are in Parliament or a provincial legislature.
“You must expect a letter which is going to ask you if you have matric, what have you done since Parliament to attain a tertiary qualification.
“Those of you without tertiary qualifications, 10 years after we preached education and we said we make education fashionable, you are sitting here at our tables laughing at us, you think we are talking to someone else and not you.
“Comrades, let me tell you, if we take to council, people who have not gone to school, we are worse than the ANC, this country is in this mess because the ANC took people who did not go to school and put them into positions of power. We are in this mess because of illiteracy,” Malema said.
He said when they started the party 10 years ago they were happy to accept people who had no educational qualifications.
“When we started the EFF I was happy to have you, because you didn’t go to school because you were poor and you didn’t have money, but we took you into council, into Parliament and legislature, made resources available for you to go to school, but you still refused.”
Malema told delegates that the party was formed after the dreams of 1994 were betrayed.
He said residents of Zamdela in Sasolburg in the Free State wanted a change to the status quo after they felt betrayed post-1994.
“At the core of that struggle and what led to the Struggle against colonialism and imperialism was the land and wealth of the people which was taken from them.
“1994 meant the people were to get that which was stolen from them… that the land was to come and the wealth was to come.
“But those resources were not returned as freedom came through paper, it was a negotiated settlement. It has been business as usual since then,” Malema said.