EFF leader Julius Malema. Picture: Neil McCartney / The Citizen
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema says his party’s exclusion from a pre-Brics event is down to “political jealousy” as questions remain on whether Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend the main summit next month.
The African National Congress (ANC) will host a Brics Political Parties Forum, with a number of international political parties set to attend the event scheduled later this month.
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The forum, which take place from July 18 to 20, is expected discuss the Russia-Ukraine conflict amongst other global matters.
While the ANC’s alliance partners – the South African Communist Party (SACP) and Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) – will also participate, no opposition party have reportedly been invited to the geopolitical event including the EFF.
According to Sunday World, some ANC senior members were strongly opposed to proposals to extend an invitation to Malema due to the Red Berets’ hostility towards the ruling party.
Addressing the media on Thursday, Malema suggested that his party was not invited for a particular reason.
“It is patently clear that the EFF is an important voice in the global affairs of society, and to undermine calls for its presence at Brics is nothing, but political jealousy,” he told reporters at the EFF’s headquarters in Johannesburg.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula on Wednesday indicated that the EFF needed to write to the governing party should they wish to be part of the forum.
“We haven’t received anything yet from the EFF,” Mbalula said.
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Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen confirmed to BusinessDay that his party had also not received an invitation.
“It is thus quite clear that this dialogue is taking place in a very exclusive fashion, which defeats the purpose of the dialogue altogether if all the necessary role players are not included around the table,” Steenhuisen said.
Malema echoed those sentiments.
“The EFF condemns the political intolerance and childishness of those in the ruling party who seek to subvert the invitation of the EFF leadership to the Brics summit,” he said.
Meanwhile, Malema reiterated the EFF’s support for a peaceful resolution to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, blaming the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) for its role in the war.
“The EFF maintains that the conflict between the two nations, is a renewed attempt by forces of imperialism who belong to Nato, to establish political and military influence in Eastern Europe and all over the world,” he told reporters.
The Red Berets leader insisted that Putin was welcome to visit South Africa as government mulls on what action to take should the Russian president arrive for the Brics summit in August.
The ICC issued an arrest warrant against Putin in March, accusing him of war crimes relating to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine since February last year.
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This has placed the South African government under pressure to act on the warrant since the country was a signatory to the ICC.
The DA has since approached the courts seeking a declaratory order compelling the state to arrest Putin if he attends the summit.
President Cyril Ramaphosa filed his response to the DA’s litigation in the Pretoria High Court last week.
Furthermore, Malema called for Deputy President Paul Mashatile’s security detail, who were behind the assault of three civilians, to be fired.
“We call for the immediate dismissal of all those members of the VIP Protection Unit who committed these violent acts, and for their certificates as police officers to be revoked by the Saps Academy.
“We further call on the firearms control unit of Saps to revoke their firearm certificates,” the EFF leader said.
Members of the South African Police Service (Saps) VIP Protection Unit were caught on camera assaulting three South African National Defence Force (SANDF) trainees on the N1 highway in Johannesburg over the weekend.
All eight members of the VIP Protection Unit have since been suspended, National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola revealed on Thursday.
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