Malema: ‘I have achieved my mission with Zuma, it’s done’

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema says he has achieved his mission with former president Jacob Zuma and there’s nothing more he can do.

Malema was responding to Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh’s question on SABC’s Unfiltered, on being the biggest “flip-flopper” in SA politics.

The EFF leader denied being a flip-flopper, and said it was a name given to him by his enemies.

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“I create the political wind, so why would I go with the wind when I’m the one creating the wind,” said Malema.

“Sometimes you have to kiss a few frogs to get to your destination.”

Malema and Zuma issues ‘political’

In one case, Malema was called a flip-flopper after requesting a meeting with Zuma at his Nkandla homestead following his refusal to appear at the state capture inquiry.

The meeting made headlines as people asked how Malema moved from calling for Zuma’s head in parliament to having tea with him at his home.

Malema told Mpofu-Walsh his issues with Zuma were political, and that politically, he had achieved his goal regarding the former president.

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“I have achieved my mission with Zuma, it’s done. My issues with Zuma were political and its done. I achieved what I wanted with Zuma,” he said.

“The highest punishment you can give a sitting president is making sure he doesn’t finish his term, so why must I keep pursuing a pensioner when I’ve achieved my political goal?

“I am not going to pursue Zuma to the grave. My issues with Zuma were political, and those political differences have been ironed out. Why must I still pursue Zuma? To impress who?”

On Eskom

Speaking at the Economic Freedom Fighters’ press briefing on Monday, Malema warned South Africans that in the next two weeks, there is going to be complete darkness.

“We’re almost at the point of grid collapse. It’s a reality that South Africans must know, that we’re heading to darkness and ANC politicians are continuing business as usual, as if we’re not in a crisis. We are in a deep, deep crisis,” warned Malema at the time.

“Cellphone networks will not work, water, even if we have it, we won’t receive it because it needs electricity. Nothing is going to function, we’re heading for a disaster, worse than what Covid was. No one will go to work, the dead will have to be buried the same day because there will not be fridges to keep them.”

No grid collapse

In response, Eskom on Tuesday assured South Africans there were measures in place to avoid the collapse of the power system. Load shedding, according to the power utility, is one of these mechanisms.

“The risk of a national blackout, while inherent to the operation of a large power system, has an extremely low likelihood of materialising given the implementation of a number of control measures, including load shedding,” Eskom said.

READ MORE: Measures are in place to avoid grid collapse, says Eskom on Malema’s doomsday prediction

However, speaking to Mpofu-Walsh, Malema stood by his claims, and said the power utility’s warning on Thursday morning that the country could experience stage 8 load shedding was proof there was a crisis coming.

“Once you go stage 8 – stage 10, effectively there is no longer electricity and I had that on good authority. It didn’t take two weeks, already they are telling you ‘prepare yourself for stage 8’. They are preparing you for dark days,” said Malema.

“The problem is that the ANC politicians want to act business as usual, and want to act like there’s no crisis coming.

“There’s a big problem coming, there’s no one who shows a sense of urgency or some concern and this information was given to them.

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“There’s no fearmongering, you were told of stage 8, what is fear about that? You were on stage 6 and I told you we’re heading for a worse situation. In less than 48 hours they came to tell you ‘prepare yourself for stage 8’. What happens after Stage 8? Is there Stage 10? Should we continue to call them stages? Or should we just declare a crisis and say ‘we are back to the dark days’?

“Stage 6 alone is a nightmare, imagine stage 8 and stage 10, so there’s no fearmongering. They have already prove me right, that the crisis is ahead of us. I was not scaring anyone, I was just saying to the country, please be aware we’re heading to a crisis. The president doesn’t show the sense of urgency, the ministers don’t show a sense of urgency. No one takes us into confidence as to what is really happening in this country.

“I’ve never said anything that has not come to pass.”

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