Malema says the ‘enemy is attacking’
The EFF leader appears to endorse the view that negative reports about the EFF and its deputy leader are akin to apartheid-era disinformation campaigns.
FILE PICTURE: August 23, 2018 EFF leader Julius Malema addressed media in Johannesburg about the latest development in the country.
In a tweet on Thursday night, EFF leader Julius Malema finally broke his silence over the scandal that unexpectedly hit his party and its deputy president, Floyd Shivambu.
He said that he was on his way to see Shivambu, “the man of the moment”, along with spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi.
Malema encouraged his followers to “remain vigilant and focused” because “the enemy is attacking”.
Just finished the political induction of @EFFSouthAfrica NW province, now en route to see the man of the moment, my Deputy President, Commissar @FloydShivambu and our spokesperson Commissar @MbuyiseniNdlozi. Remain vigilant and focus fighters; the enemy is attacking.
— Julius Sello Malema (@Julius_S_Malema) October 11, 2018
To give context to the tweet, Malema also retweeted another message that suggests Malema thinks, or at least is hoping to suggest, that he and the EFF are being targeted by a Stratcom-like disinformation campaign to discredit them unfairly.
In March the CiC @Julius_S_Malema predicted that this will happen. He even said that #StratCom will be so desperate that they will bring up his picture wearing a purple suit. They will use anything possible to discredit @EFFSouthAfrica. #VBSBank
— Vladimir Phuti (@MorwaMobu) October 11, 2018
Malema will be holding a press conference on Tuesday and is expected to confront the damning allegations that emerged about his party on Wednesday.
The party’s commander-in-chief has not yet commented on reports that his party received R1.3 million and his second-in-command about R10 million from the bank through his brother Brian Shivambu.
A report commissioned by Treasury called The Great Bank Heist was released on Wednesday that reported on the alleged looting of VBS Bank and was compiled by advocate Terry Motau and assisted by Werksmans Attorneys. The report implicated Brian as one of more than 50 people who “gratuitously” received money from VBS Bank.
READ MORE: EFF mum on Floyd Shivambu brother’s VBS allegations
Then, the Daily Maverick released an investigative report revealing that not only had Shivambu himself received as much as R10 million of the R16 million allegedly sent to Brian, but that the party’s bank account had received R1.3 million.
While the EFF did release a statement on the report, it did not contain comment on Brian Shivambu’s implication in the VBS saga. The party also has not addressed the more recent allegations in The Daily Maverick that the party and Shivambu himself received money.
In the statement, the red berets called for the law to take its course and that those responsible be held accountable.
“The EFF reiterates its position that all those who are responsible and illegally benefited from the fraud must be criminally prosecuted immediately. As we previously indicated, we also reiterate that they must be blacklisted. Above all, the law enforcement authorities must ensure that all the [money] that can be recovered is paid back in full, including attaching properties from the individuals who benefited,” the party said.
Brian Shivambu later said in a statement of his own that he did not believe he’d done anything wrong by accepting money from VBS’s majority shareholder, Vele Investments, despite Vele being fingered as looting more than half the money from VBS. He threatened to sue the authors of the report that named him.
(Compiled by Charles Cilliers)
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