A Mercedes SUV in exchange for votes — it looks like a pretty straightforward bribe. Yet the Electoral Commission of SA does not see anything amiss in the EFF handing over a R1.8m Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupé to abaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo, which the party called a "gift" to its "hero".
EFF leader Julius Malema announced the party’s intention to give the king a car while campaigning ahead of the November 1 elections. And Dalindyebo, who was also once courted by the DA, encouraged his constituency to vote for the EFF.
Malema denied that the SUV was a bribe, saying: "You can’t go to a chief empty-handed, and when you give a king anything — cattle or food — you are necessarily feeding his nation." The king has received cars as gifts before — from former president Nelson Mandela and businessman Patrice Motsepe.
But the EFF might not be happy with the return on its investment. Not only did the king urge South Africans to accept the posthumous apartheid apology from FW de Klerk — one of Malema’s least-favourite people — but the majority of the areas under the king’s rule voted overwhelmingly for the ANC.