Malema interview – ‘I have learnt from Zuma’
Former ANC Youth League (ANCYL) firebrand Julius Malema says he had prepared himself for the treatment he was now experiencing as he had seen it happen to President Jacob Zuma.
“I have seen people literally running away from President Zuma when he was in trouble.
“It is the people who are today projecting themselves as the most loyal people of President Zuma.
“That is why I will never be treated for stress or depression because I have anticipated this type of conduct, especially from pretenders who just hijacked the train without knowing where it came from and where it was going,” said Malema.
He conceded that all was done and dusted for him now in the youth league.
Malema has been out in the cold since his expulsion from the ANC by its national disciplinary appeals committee in April last year.
His fate was finally sealed at the ANC’s Mangaung conference in December when Zuma was re-elected and Malema’s sympathisers failed to win key positions.
Malema spoke to City Press on his farm outside Polokwane, which was recently attached by the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU).
He spoke of his tax and court woes, his future and how he was treated by the ANC, on whose stage he once took the spotlight.
“Our problems started with the demand to change the ownership pattern in South Africa and people thought it was a joke. They ridiculed it (and) comedians made jokes about it, but we soldiered on,” he said.
He said the ANC was controlled by big capital. He took a swipe at the billionaire Rupert family, whose patriarch, Johann, once referred to the ANCYL as a mosquito (in a tent).
“People should have analysed it, there, that capital runs the ANC and South Africa.
“And once they identified the youth league as an irritating mosquito (in a tent) they went to look for a ‘Doom’ (insecticide).
“Cyril Ramaphosa became a ‘Doom’ and the ANC became a ‘Doom’ to kill the ANC Youth League out of the instructions of the Ruperts,” charged Malema.
Johann Rupert responded: “I have never discussed Mr Malema with Mr Ramaphosa. Mr Malema definitely overestimates my influence if he thinks that the ANC will pay any heed to anything that I may wish or think.”
Malema continued to protest his innocence in the face of a slew of criminal charges, which include racketeering.
“Racketeering … is a serious charge and to be classified like a mafia that runs an illegal operation …
“They can’t charge druglords with such a serious charge, but they charge me! I still want to understand,” he said.
He said his future now lay in farming.
He said, even if he lost his farm, there were traditional leaders who would give him land.
All he wished for now was for rain, so his vegetables would grow.
- Thanduxolo Jika
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