‘Kill me first’: Malema hits back at calls for him to step down

Furious EFF leader Julius Malema has hit back at calls for him to step down, saying those calling for his removal want to destroy the party and will have to ‘kill him first’. 

Malema was briefing the media at the National Results Operations Centre (NROC) in Midrand on Saturday, following the EFF’s performance in the 2026 local government elections.

Responding to calls for a change in leadership, Malema said the suggestion that he should leave the party was an attempt to undermine the EFF.

“I can guarantee you that there must be succession in the EFF. Malema must leave the EFF, maybe the EFF will grow. It’s a call to kill the EFF,” he said.

“The people who are saying those things are people who don’t love the EFF.

“They want to kill it. You will not kill the EFF. Kill me first, then the EFF.”

Malema maintained that the party remained resilient despite what he described as efforts to undermine it.

“Despite so much money that has been put together to destroy it, the EFF is still running.

“The EFF is a well-oiled machine. It is going nowhere.”

He also took a swipe at the IEC in the Western Cape, claiming it had been evicted because it failed to pay rent, while insisting that the EFF had never faced a similar situation.

Earlier, Malema blamed an international smear campaign for the party’s sharp decline in support, accusing right-wing lobby group AfriForum of travelling to the US to denounce the EFF and undermine its electoral prospects.

“This is a victory for those who went to the US and told the White House there was a white genocide in South Africa while denouncing the EFF,” he said.

“It is a victory for AfriForum. It is a victory for the Boeremag.”

As of 2.15pm on Saturday, with 98% of the national vote counted, the IEC’s results dashboard showed the EFF on 6.25%, with 490 seats and no leading or controlled councils.

The ANC remained in the lead with 30.9% of the vote, followed by the DA on 24.59%.

The MK Party held third place with 9.61% and 694 seats, well ahead of the EFF.

Addressing reporters at the results centre, Malema acknowledged the scale of the setback but framed the outcome as a victory for the party’s conservative critics.

“The consolidation and success of white supremacy and right-wing forces in this 2026 local government election is not an accident of history,” he said.

Despite blaming external forces for the party’s performance, Malema said the EFF would have to confront its losses.

“[It] is the setback we must confront honestly,” he said.The EFF leader also launched an attack on the MK Party, which overtook the red berets in the national results.

Dismissing Jacob Zuma’s party as a regional faction, Malema accused it of operating along tribal lines.

“We will not be shaken by noise from organisations which operate like Bantustans… who exist regionally and organise themselves along tribal lines,” he said.

He insisted that the EFF remained a national organisation with a footprint across the country and could recover its lost support.

Despite its national decline, Malema highlighted the party’s performance at ward level, saying it had increased the number of wards it won from 19 in the previous election cycle to 37 in 2026.

“Inside those setbacks, the EFF has grown where the people live and where councillors are held accountable every day in the wards,” he said.

He pointed to gains in several provinces, saying the party had increased its ward victories in the North West from three to 10.

In Mpumalanga, the EFF secured seven wards, having previously won none in the 2021 local government elections.

Malema also highlighted the party’s performance in Marikana, which he described as the EFF’s “home”, saying it had taken two wards from the ANC.