Tag: Julius Malema

The attack by Congress of the People president Mosiuoa Lekota against President Cyril Ramaphosa, whom he called a apartheid-era sellout, is part of an attempt to “desecrate the liberation struggle by portraying its leaders as a bunch of corrupt crooks”, a political expert has said. “The attacks against the ANC, in particular, would increase as the party was losing its status and legitimacy as a leader of society,” analyst Ralph Mathekga said. “Those who make these accusation are not held accountable because SA society is so gullible. We don’t put the burden on the accuser to provide proof of whatever claim he makes against another person,” Mathekga said. I say this because the special branch rewarded you and they sent you home and we headed to Robben Island,” Lekota said. He confirmed that indeed he was detained with Lekota and others but he never sold out. Another was by SACP deputy general secretary Solly Mapaila regarding late PAC leader Robert Sobukwe. He said it was premature to dismiss Lekota and to believe on Wednesday that Ramaphosa indeed was a sellout. But now that Ramaphosa had explained, Lekota needed to make peace with the fact that there was someone who sold out who was not Ramaphosa. In his response in parliament, Ramaphosa also referred to similar sellout accusations levelled against Nelson Mandela after he was moved to a prison house in Victor Verster, away from Robben Island.

The second involves AfriForum and Parliament, over land. Given the strategists involved in the ANC nowadays, it is entirely possible that there was a little bit of orchestration with the timing of Pravin Gordhan’s decision to walk into a police station and lodge crimen injuria charges against Malema and the EFF. However, the risk AfriForum might take in the case is that while they may from time to time have legal victories, they will continue to lose on the politics of it. It is entire possible for some in the ANC to point fingers loudly at AfriForum, to turn the election into a poll about identity. This might actually suit AfriForum, because it would create a situation that strengthens their base. Meanwhile, while Gordhan may well be on stronger ground legally, Malema may also believe that he has much to gain from a legal process. To make matters more complicated for the EFF leader, he himself said on Monday that he would be instituting criminal charges against Gordhan. Which may mean the case can return almost at any moment. That is extremely difficult in a country with so many fringe players as in South Africa today. DM Support DAILY MAVERICK & get FREE UBER vouchers every month An increasingly rare commodity, quality independent journalism costs money, though not nearly as much as its absence can cost global community.

South African politician Julius Malema says the King Mswati of eSwatini (formerly Swaziland) should leave politicians in the country to thrive. ... release the political prisoners in Swaziland. We don't want the king to interfere with the freedoms of the people of Swaziland. “Here at home, eSwatini, King Mswati, please leave politics to politicians and continue marrying as you want to marry many women, it’s fine. We don’t want the king to interfere with the freedoms of the people of Swaziland. “So we are saying to the king, please allow the people of eSwatini – what a beautiful name. This monarch (dictator) of Swaziland, he thinks better than the ANC people, he has changed the colonial name Swaziland to eSwatini,” Malema said to applause. The King who took over the reins over three decades ago has over a dozen wives. He usually picks a wive after the annual reed dance ceremony. The first landmark was his 50th birthday and the country’s 50 years of independence.

EPA-EFE/Siyabulela Duda/GCIS HANDOUT Saturday’s official funeral for the world to say a final farewell to Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was always going to be a political affair, saying much about our politics of the day. But he may well have been upstaged by President Cyril Ramaphosa who has probably provided the best diagnosis of our problems yet delivered by a sitting politician. This is the kind of thing we have come to expect in our politics. In other words, this was, for almost everyone involved, a unique opportunity to make a point while reaching a previously impossible audience. In the end, many people were simply waiting for Julius Malema to speak. One must question why Malema used this stage to make this particular point. The people who attack them on Twitter did not do that, and have no experience or insight into what that must have been like. Ramaphosa was able to offer something very few politicians have given us recently: an accurate, thoughtful and caring diagnosis of our problems. Malema’s critics would no doubt suggest that it demonstrates that he can be relatively easily upstaged, that while his emotion, which is almost always anger, can be effective, the presentation of a thoughtful solution is also effective politics, especially in the long term. Ramaphosa is the man in charge, he is the one with real political power.