Julius Malema is not dead
Julius Malema delivers a speech during a mass rally marking the party's fourth anniversary on July 29, 2017 at the Curries Fountain Stadium in Durban. Picture:
The EFF wants to regulate the internet to get rid of fake news. Good luck with that.
The EFF has dismissed reports that its leader was involved in a car accident.
A fake news website on Sunday reported that the EFF leader was involved in a fatal crash after his car collided with a truck.
The EFF said that although it would not usually dignify fake news news with a press release, it felt the need to address the rumours publicly after inquiries from Malema’s family and friends.
“We would like to guarantee the entire public that these [sic] were malicious and incentive fake news.”The party says the fake news may be the work of the “enemy”, who is testing the waters to see how South Africans would react to the news.
“If the enemy plans to take the life of the CIC through an accident, they may be releasing fake news to test if this would cause instability or not; rest assured that if this is the case, we are not fooled.”
The party has called for the regulation of the media in order to do away with fake news in the country.“We must indeed find a way to impose sanctions on those who take to our internet to report fake news.”Earlier this year, a fake news website reported that Malema and his wife and son died in an accident in Sandton after clipping the rear of a tipper truck.
To recap, here are some of the obvious things we all already know:
The DA is governing Nelson Mandela Bay in coalition with Mosiuoa Lekota’s Cope, the UDM’s Bantu Holomisa and Kenneth Meshoe’s ACDP. Together they were able to form a government because they reached the 61 seats required out of 120 – so the support of the EFF and its six seats wasn’t required in the Bay.
However, the support of Julius Malema’s party for the DA in Pretoria and Johannesburg is crucial for it to rule in those metros, which they’ve held since last year.
Despite this, it seems the DA actually takes Malema’s support for granted nowadays – because they know he is very unlikely to turn on them as long as the hated President Jacob Zuma is still in power.
Many times Malema has huffed and many times he has puffed at the DA – and the DA has merely brushed him off.
No house came tumbling down when he moaned about Herman Mashaba. The houses kept standing when he moaned bitterly about Helen Zille. He threatened to withdraw his support each time. Each time, he did not.
Why?
Obviously Malema wants to return to the ANC and become the future president of this country. But as long as Zuma is in charge, that can never happen.
The recent vote of no confidence in Zuma was the closest the young man has ever come to realising his great ambition. Had it been successful, the EFF may already have been dissolved, and Malema may already be back in the welcome arms of his beloved black, green and yellow true home.
As it happens, the next president of the ANC is likely to be Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma (like it or not), and that will keep Malema out in the cold and having to keep supporting parties like the DA that he actually hates.
All of this was made all the more clear this week in Nelson Mandela Bay, and by next week it should be even clearer.
McKenzie’s Patriotic Alliance (PA) has always been an outspoken critic of the DA and has made clear its ambitions to wrest the support of the DA’s coloured voters away from it – so the PA is not a friend to the DA and is unlikely to ever be.
But in the game of political thrones, it was this same PA that came to the rescue this week of DA mayor Athol Trollip in Nelson Mandela Bay after Trollip’s relationship had broken down with the UDM-appointed deputy mayor, Mongameli Bobani.
Trollip and the DA could no longer work with Bobani after numerous allegations of corruption and the fact that Bobani supposedly even voted with the ANC on about five occasions.
Despite all this, Holomisa is furious at what he calls a smear campaign against his man.
Since Bobani wasn’t voting as he was expected to anyway, it’s unlikely Trollip cares about the UDM now. The fact that he was able to get 60 councillors (57 DA, 1 ACDP, 1 PA, 1 Cope) to vote Bobani out on Thursday means he’s probably feeling confident of being able to keep the wheels of government turning.
The EFF and ANC were trying to leave the house in protest, but were considered to “be there” nevertheless, and so the vote reached a quorum and was upheld – much to their dismay.
Game of bluff
Why didn’t Trollip just bring the motion of no confidence himself? Why wait for the PA to do it and thus allow McKenzie’s party to benefit from having a moment in the spotlight?
Well, coalition partners shouldn’t be bringing motions of no confidence against each other, right? But if someone else “just so happens to do it” – well, then, “one will have to vote with one’s conscience” in such a scenario. Right?
Trollip is probably thinking he’s played this one pretty well, especially since the UDM isn’t that important in Johannesburg and doesn’t matter at all in Pretoria. He’s probably thinking he hasn’t imperilled the other two big coalition governments. He probably knows he’s upset the EFF and that the EFF will no doubt threaten to withdraw its support yet again.
He has no doubt worked out, though, that it will just be another bluff. The DA obviously knows Malema has simply been trying to use them in his fight against an ANC led by Zuma. But knowing this, they must realise they can, in turn, continue to use Malema and his EFF far more profitably in the meantime, and possibly for many years to come.
Malema is, quite simply, trapped. He has to just keep biding his time and hoping his luck will change. Even so, Malema must realise that even if Cyril Ramaphosa becomes the next president, he has little chance of getting back into the ANC. The “Commander in Chief” will become just another ageing, noisy opposition leader shouting from the sidelines while his more radical, poverty-stricken and angry, disenfranchised supporters find someone even louder and more extreme to coalesce around.
Watch this space
If the PA’s one councillor in the Bay, Marlon Daniels, suddenly gets a position or some other reward in Trollip’s government then it will be blindingly obvious that a deal was struck between the PA and the DA. Daniels has already said he wants to be the new deputy mayor and he seems to think he has a strong chance of becoming that – though such lofty ambitions are probably a bit optimistic.
But an MMC? Sure, why not.
McKenzie, despite having started his own political party, has always been a staunch supporter of the ANC and has continued to openly express support for Zuma. Malema himself once alleged the whole idea behind the PA was for McKenzie’s party to split the so-called coloured vote in the Western Cape in a way that would play into the ANC’s hands and break the backbone of support for the DA in its stronghold province.
McKenzie’s one seat in Ekurhuleni also played a role in allowing the ANC to at least retain one metro in Gauteng last year. He remains in coalition with the ANC there and his most recent statement that he intends to “review” this agreement in light of the “disgusting” fact that the ANC supported Bobani and his “corruption” in the Bay is probably just a smokescreen.
It should be obvious that McKenzie is trying to sow division in the fragile relationship between the EFF and the DA. He’s no doubt also enjoying doing it. The DA appears more than happy to allow him to attempt it, too, without being overly concerned – despite the fact that this is the same McKenzie who is possibly as despised by Malema and the EFF on a level of hatred that comes close to their antipathy towards Zuma himself.
If the EFF gets the idea the DA has been doing “deals” with McKenzie, it’s uncertain just how angry Malema will get, and just how destructive that anger is likely to be. He may snap at last, and then all bets are off.
But he’ll probably also just let this one go. He’ll have to keep his mouth shut once more and swallow yet another bitter pill served to him, this time, by McKenzie.
But this one will go down with particularly great difficulty.
A fake news website on Sunday reported that the EFF leader was involved in a fatal crash after his car collided with a truck.
The EFF said that although it would not usually dignify fake news news with a press release, it felt the need to address the rumours publicly after inquiries from Malema’s family and friends.
“We would like to guarantee the entire public that these [sic] were malicious and incentive fake news.”The party says the fake news may be the work of the “enemy”, who is testing the waters to see how South Africans would react to the news.
“If the enemy plans to take the life of the CIC through an accident, they may be releasing fake news to test if this would cause instability or not; rest assured that if this is the case, we are not fooled.”
The party has called for the regulation of the media in order to do away with fake news in the country.“We must indeed find a way to impose sanctions on those who take to our internet to report fake news.”Earlier this year, a fake news website reported that Malema and his wife and son died in an accident in Sandton after clipping the rear of a tipper truck.
According to reports, sources in
The powerlessness of Julius Malema
EFF leader Julius Malema. Picture: Refilwe Modise
He’s loud and gets a lot of attention, but this week’s events in Nelson Mandela Bay make it clear the DA doesn’t take him seriously.
It may seem far from obvious, but behind the scenes of what’s going on in Port Elizabeth is the Patriotic Alliance’s Gayton McKenzie, one of the political scene’s lowest fliers and one of the EFF’s most hated individuals.To recap, here are some of the obvious things we all already know:
The DA is governing Nelson Mandela Bay in coalition with Mosiuoa Lekota’s Cope, the UDM’s Bantu Holomisa and Kenneth Meshoe’s ACDP. Together they were able to form a government because they reached the 61 seats required out of 120 – so the support of the EFF and its six seats wasn’t required in the Bay.
However, the support of Julius Malema’s party for the DA in Pretoria and Johannesburg is crucial for it to rule in those metros, which they’ve held since last year.
Despite this, it seems the DA actually takes Malema’s support for granted nowadays – because they know he is very unlikely to turn on them as long as the hated President Jacob Zuma is still in power.
Many times Malema has huffed and many times he has puffed at the DA – and the DA has merely brushed him off.
No house came tumbling down when he moaned about Herman Mashaba. The houses kept standing when he moaned bitterly about Helen Zille. He threatened to withdraw his support each time. Each time, he did not.
Why?
Obviously Malema wants to return to the ANC and become the future president of this country. But as long as Zuma is in charge, that can never happen.
The recent vote of no confidence in Zuma was the closest the young man has ever come to realising his great ambition. Had it been successful, the EFF may already have been dissolved, and Malema may already be back in the welcome arms of his beloved black, green and yellow true home.
As it happens, the next president of the ANC is likely to be Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma (like it or not), and that will keep Malema out in the cold and having to keep supporting parties like the DA that he actually hates.
All of this was made all the more clear this week in Nelson Mandela Bay, and by next week it should be even clearer.
McKenzie’s Patriotic Alliance (PA) has always been an outspoken critic of the DA and has made clear its ambitions to wrest the support of the DA’s coloured voters away from it – so the PA is not a friend to the DA and is unlikely to ever be.
But in the game of political thrones, it was this same PA that came to the rescue this week of DA mayor Athol Trollip in Nelson Mandela Bay after Trollip’s relationship had broken down with the UDM-appointed deputy mayor, Mongameli Bobani.
Trollip and the DA could no longer work with Bobani after numerous allegations of corruption and the fact that Bobani supposedly even voted with the ANC on about five occasions.
Despite all this, Holomisa is furious at what he calls a smear campaign against his man.
Since Bobani wasn’t voting as he was expected to anyway, it’s unlikely Trollip cares about the UDM now. The fact that he was able to get 60 councillors (57 DA, 1 ACDP, 1 PA, 1 Cope) to vote Bobani out on Thursday means he’s probably feeling confident of being able to keep the wheels of government turning.
The EFF and ANC were trying to leave the house in protest, but were considered to “be there” nevertheless, and so the vote reached a quorum and was upheld – much to their dismay.
Game of bluff
Why didn’t Trollip just bring the motion of no confidence himself? Why wait for the PA to do it and thus allow McKenzie’s party to benefit from having a moment in the spotlight?
Well, coalition partners shouldn’t be bringing motions of no confidence against each other, right? But if someone else “just so happens to do it” – well, then, “one will have to vote with one’s conscience” in such a scenario. Right?
Trollip is probably thinking he’s played this one pretty well, especially since the UDM isn’t that important in Johannesburg and doesn’t matter at all in Pretoria. He’s probably thinking he hasn’t imperilled the other two big coalition governments. He probably knows he’s upset the EFF and that the EFF will no doubt threaten to withdraw its support yet again.
He has no doubt worked out, though, that it will just be another bluff. The DA obviously knows Malema has simply been trying to use them in his fight against an ANC led by Zuma. But knowing this, they must realise they can, in turn, continue to use Malema and his EFF far more profitably in the meantime, and possibly for many years to come.
Malema is, quite simply, trapped. He has to just keep biding his time and hoping his luck will change. Even so, Malema must realise that even if Cyril Ramaphosa becomes the next president, he has little chance of getting back into the ANC. The “Commander in Chief” will become just another ageing, noisy opposition leader shouting from the sidelines while his more radical, poverty-stricken and angry, disenfranchised supporters find someone even louder and more extreme to coalesce around.
Watch this space
If the PA’s one councillor in the Bay, Marlon Daniels, suddenly gets a position or some other reward in Trollip’s government then it will be blindingly obvious that a deal was struck between the PA and the DA. Daniels has already said he wants to be the new deputy mayor and he seems to think he has a strong chance of becoming that – though such lofty ambitions are probably a bit optimistic.
But an MMC? Sure, why not.
McKenzie, despite having started his own political party, has always been a staunch supporter of the ANC and has continued to openly express support for Zuma. Malema himself once alleged the whole idea behind the PA was for McKenzie’s party to split the so-called coloured vote in the Western Cape in a way that would play into the ANC’s hands and break the backbone of support for the DA in its stronghold province.
McKenzie’s one seat in Ekurhuleni also played a role in allowing the ANC to at least retain one metro in Gauteng last year. He remains in coalition with the ANC there and his most recent statement that he intends to “review” this agreement in light of the “disgusting” fact that the ANC supported Bobani and his “corruption” in the Bay is probably just a smokescreen.
It should be obvious that McKenzie is trying to sow division in the fragile relationship between the EFF and the DA. He’s no doubt also enjoying doing it. The DA appears more than happy to allow him to attempt it, too, without being overly concerned – despite the fact that this is the same McKenzie who is possibly as despised by Malema and the EFF on a level of hatred that comes close to their antipathy towards Zuma himself.
If the EFF gets the idea the DA has been doing “deals” with McKenzie, it’s uncertain just how angry Malema will get, and just how destructive that anger is likely to be. He may snap at last, and then all bets are off.
But he’ll probably also just let this one go. He’ll have to keep his mouth shut once more and swallow yet another bitter pill served to him, this time, by McKenzie.
But this one will go down with particularly great difficulty.
the EFF believe such reports are created to “destabilise” their party.
Malawi bans Malema and he doesn’t know why
EFF leader Julius Malema is pictured addressing a press briefing at the party’s head office in Braamfontein, Johannesburg 14 February 2017. Malema announced that the EFF would no longer be participating in any debate in parliament regarding President Jacob Zuma’s state of the nation address. Picture: Refilwe Modise
The EFF leader is in Limpopo attending a funeral, but reports claim he is getting ready to travel to Malawi.
EFF leader Julius Malema was left confused on Thursday after an announcement by the Malawian government that he had been banned from the country.
Grace Obama Chiuma, the country’s Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security, issued a letter addressed to South African Airways to deny Malema entry into the country.
“Declaration of the underlisted persons as prohibited immigrants. Please take notice that in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 4 (1)(h) of the Immigrant Act, I declare the following persons to be prohibited immigrants to Malawi, namely;
“1. (Here put the full names of the persons and their particulars available : Saviour Chishimba, Julius Malema
“You are therefore directed to cause the appropriate notices to be prepared and disseminated to them and the relevant officers in order to restrict or refuse their entry in Malawi.”
Malema says he doesn’t even know why he has been banned from the country when he has never spoken badly about it.
“I never spoke good or bad about the government of #Malawi or the president of that country, but I’m told the government of #Malawi banned me.”
His followers asked him when he was scheduled to visit the country, but Malema said even that was not in his plans.
“But for what because I was never scheduled to speak in Malawi.”
He said he was in Limpopo to attend a funeral service of Cassel Mathale’s mother in San village on Friday.
According to Malawi24, the two were banned following reports that they were scheduled to join former minister Moses Kumkuyu in a conference for the Transformation Alliance, which is a pressure group he founded.
Transformation Alliance was founded to fight against corruption and hold leaders to account. This was to be their first international conference, reports the publication.
The announcement has left the EFF confused, not knowing what is going on.
They fall over themselves to release statements expressing their shock, disappointment and condemnation of whatever it is that whoever it is shouldn’t have done. The DA and the Economic Freedom Fighters are normally the loudest, fastest and most opinionated of them all.
But it’s been more than a week now since news broke that Grace Mugabe was due to be arrested for allegedly handing a beating to a number of young women, Gabriella Engels among them. And since that alleged event on August 13, there’s been a lot of water under the Beitbridge, with still no word from the EFF.
We thought Grace was in custody, then we thought she was still to hand herself over; then we thought she’d fled home after absconding from her scheduled court appearance; and then there was the news she was still in South Africa.
After much hoo-hah, it all came to a rather predictable, damp-squibby end with Grace leaving on the nearest jet plane back to Harare, clutching her dodgily signed letter of immunity from Mama Maite in one hand and holding the mummified arm of her dearly appointed saviour, the Ancient One himself, with the other.
And through it all, where was the EFF? Where was the party with the loudest leaders on the Twitter streets, in parliament and everywhere?
What was their view of all of this? We really have no idea, since there was little more than a blanket silence from the party and every single one of its most prominent leaders – not so much as even a half-hearted statement expressing a lukewarm concern.
I’m not sure if this silence should be read as condonation of Grace’s alleged attack on a South African citizen, and the misbegotten immunity the first lady later received.
But it’s hard to see it any other way.
What does this teach us about the EFF?
I’m not entirely sure, but very little of it is flattering.
It teaches us this is a party that will trumpet itself as the high-minded moral alternative only when they happen not to like the person they think is not being moral.
It teaches us that their condemnation of Jacob Zuma and his government has nothing to do with him actually doing anything wrong – just that it’s not okay to do something wrong while at the same time being someone the EFF doesn’t approve of.
The EFF has always preached its adoration of President Robert Mugabe for no reason other than the fact that he oversaw the wholesale land expropriation of white-owned farms in Zimbabwe.
The EFF appears not to care one little bit that Zimbabwe’s programme of “land reform” has not left the general population of Zimbabwe any better off than it was before (in fact, they are objectively worse off); the EFF does not care that a general abandonment of modern commercial farming has wreaked havoc on the agricultural environment, never mind the economy; and they do not care that much of the expropriated land ended up in the hands of the Zanu-PF elite. They also apparently couldn’t care that Zanu-PF stole an entire election.
All they care about is that a relatively small group of a few thousand white farmers were taught a lesson and were left much worse off than they used to be. It doesn’t matter if almost everyone else was also left worse off. What matters was that Robert “Samson” Mugabe brought the whole horrible colonial edifice crumbling down around him in his desperate bid to cling to power at all costs. And for that he is still the EFF’s great pan-African hero.
So because of that, it appears it doesn’t matter what Bob Mugabe, his wife or his children do, and which further crimes they may commit from today and onwards into eternity. Because, perhaps, they have been washed clean in the blood of the white farmers’ lambs and are now pure and sinless, incapable of any further wrongs.
Because that is how it appears, eh.
Much was made of the fact that Malema urged Mugabe to retire earlier this year, and the EFF were given a stern rebuke from Zanu-PF for offering this rather unwelcome advice.
Some remember this incident as evidence of the fact that the EFF and Zanu-PF were “fighting” and no longer friends.
But EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi was quick to make it clear they still “loved” their hero, they just wanted him to “go rest” and make way for younger leaders in Zimbabwe.
I’m almost happy this ridiculous episode has taken place. It serves as another perfect example of why it would be profoundly foolish to keep telling ourselves the EFF is really this principled alternative many would like to think it is.
They’re politicians. And they do what politicians do. And that is very rarely very pleasant.
Grace Obama Chiuma, the country’s Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security, issued a letter addressed to South African Airways to deny Malema entry into the country.
“Declaration of the underlisted persons as prohibited immigrants. Please take notice that in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 4 (1)(h) of the Immigrant Act, I declare the following persons to be prohibited immigrants to Malawi, namely;
“1. (Here put the full names of the persons and their particulars available : Saviour Chishimba, Julius Malema
“You are therefore directed to cause the appropriate notices to be prepared and disseminated to them and the relevant officers in order to restrict or refuse their entry in Malawi.”
Malema says he doesn’t even know why he has been banned from the country when he has never spoken badly about it.
“I never spoke good or bad about the government of #Malawi or the president of that country, but I’m told the government of #Malawi banned me.”
His followers asked him when he was scheduled to visit the country, but Malema said even that was not in his plans.
“But for what because I was never scheduled to speak in Malawi.”
He said he was in Limpopo to attend a funeral service of Cassel Mathale’s mother in San village on Friday.
According to Malawi24, the two were banned following reports that they were scheduled to join former minister Moses Kumkuyu in a conference for the Transformation Alliance, which is a pressure group he founded.
Transformation Alliance was founded to fight against corruption and hold leaders to account. This was to be their first international conference, reports the publication.
The announcement has left the EFF confused, not knowing what is going on.
Why so quiet, Julius?
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema addresses Cullinan residents during his party's election campaign visit on July 28, 2016 in Tshwane. Malema promised the voters land and title deeds. Picture: Gallo Images
What does the deafening silence of the EFF around Grace Mugabe’s alleged assault tell us about SA’s third-largest opposition party?
If there’s a big news event in South Africa, one thing you can always be sure of is that opposition parties will have something to say about it.They fall over themselves to release statements expressing their shock, disappointment and condemnation of whatever it is that whoever it is shouldn’t have done. The DA and the Economic Freedom Fighters are normally the loudest, fastest and most opinionated of them all.
But it’s been more than a week now since news broke that Grace Mugabe was due to be arrested for allegedly handing a beating to a number of young women, Gabriella Engels among them. And since that alleged event on August 13, there’s been a lot of water under the Beitbridge, with still no word from the EFF.
We thought Grace was in custody, then we thought she was still to hand herself over; then we thought she’d fled home after absconding from her scheduled court appearance; and then there was the news she was still in South Africa.
After much hoo-hah, it all came to a rather predictable, damp-squibby end with Grace leaving on the nearest jet plane back to Harare, clutching her dodgily signed letter of immunity from Mama Maite in one hand and holding the mummified arm of her dearly appointed saviour, the Ancient One himself, with the other.
And through it all, where was the EFF? Where was the party with the loudest leaders on the Twitter streets, in parliament and everywhere?
What was their view of all of this? We really have no idea, since there was little more than a blanket silence from the party and every single one of its most prominent leaders – not so much as even a half-hearted statement expressing a lukewarm concern.
I’m not sure if this silence should be read as condonation of Grace’s alleged attack on a South African citizen, and the misbegotten immunity the first lady later received.
But it’s hard to see it any other way.
What does this teach us about the EFF?
I’m not entirely sure, but very little of it is flattering.
It teaches us this is a party that will trumpet itself as the high-minded moral alternative only when they happen not to like the person they think is not being moral.
It teaches us that their condemnation of Jacob Zuma and his government has nothing to do with him actually doing anything wrong – just that it’s not okay to do something wrong while at the same time being someone the EFF doesn’t approve of.
The EFF has always preached its adoration of President Robert Mugabe for no reason other than the fact that he oversaw the wholesale land expropriation of white-owned farms in Zimbabwe.
The EFF appears not to care one little bit that Zimbabwe’s programme of “land reform” has not left the general population of Zimbabwe any better off than it was before (in fact, they are objectively worse off); the EFF does not care that a general abandonment of modern commercial farming has wreaked havoc on the agricultural environment, never mind the economy; and they do not care that much of the expropriated land ended up in the hands of the Zanu-PF elite. They also apparently couldn’t care that Zanu-PF stole an entire election.
All they care about is that a relatively small group of a few thousand white farmers were taught a lesson and were left much worse off than they used to be. It doesn’t matter if almost everyone else was also left worse off. What matters was that Robert “Samson” Mugabe brought the whole horrible colonial edifice crumbling down around him in his desperate bid to cling to power at all costs. And for that he is still the EFF’s great pan-African hero.
So because of that, it appears it doesn’t matter what Bob Mugabe, his wife or his children do, and which further crimes they may commit from today and onwards into eternity. Because, perhaps, they have been washed clean in the blood of the white farmers’ lambs and are now pure and sinless, incapable of any further wrongs.
Because that is how it appears, eh.
Much was made of the fact that Malema urged Mugabe to retire earlier this year, and the EFF were given a stern rebuke from Zanu-PF for offering this rather unwelcome advice.
Some remember this incident as evidence of the fact that the EFF and Zanu-PF were “fighting” and no longer friends.
But EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi was quick to make it clear they still “loved” their hero, they just wanted him to “go rest” and make way for younger leaders in Zimbabwe.
I’m almost happy this ridiculous episode has taken place. It serves as another perfect example of why it would be profoundly foolish to keep telling ourselves the EFF is really this principled alternative many would like to think it is.
They’re politicians. And they do what politicians do. And that is very rarely very pleasant.
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