The appalling conditions in Hammanskraal, Tshwane, are an insult to former president Nelson Mandela’s legacy, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema said on Thursday.

"Thoko Didiza, Sputla Ramokgopa, do you think Mandela went to prison for people to use pit toilets after he spent 27 years in prison?" Malema asked.

Ramokogopa is Tshwane’s ANC mayor and Didiza the party’s candidate to replace him after the August 3 elections.

"You are insulting Mandela’s legacy," he said in a speech to hundreds of people in Kanana, after he listened to their problems.

He said those living in Hammanskraal were worse off than people living in townships in Polokwane. The services they were getting were not of the standard expected from a capital city.

“You must have basic things to indicate you live in a capital city,” he said.

People fought against apartheid and refused to live in matchbox houses, but things had only gotten worse under the African National Congress (ANC).

“Give us power to build you houses that are on spacious yards. Why are you voting for people who don't respect you? You must make a decision,” he said.

Malema claimed that Hammanskraal’s dead were sharing graves due to a lack of space for a cemetery, despite there being pockets of undeveloped land. The apartheid government gave whites large parcels of land for free, while the ANC was handing out small stands and RDP houses.