At last, Malema speaks

It may have been just a single tweet, but EFF leader Julius Malema has mentioned the VBS Bank scandal for the first time, telling his followers that the “enemy is attacking.”

After spending the day at a political induction session for EFF members in North West, the leader of the red berets took to Twitter in what marks his first public confrontation of the damning allegations that have emerged.

In the unlikely event that you have not yet heard, a report commissioned by Treasury looking into the “looting” of VBS Bank named Floyd Shivambu’s brother Brian as having received R16 million. Then, a Daily Maverick report alleged that Shivambu himself may have received as much as R10 million, and that the party may have received R1.3 million.

Malema referred to Shivambu as “the man of the moment,” referencing his role at the centre of the allegations, and said he was off to meet the EFF deputy president as well as the party’s spokesperson, Dr Mbuyiseni Ndlozi.

He called on his supporters to “remain vigilant and focus.”

While the party did release a statement on the VBS Bank report on Wednesday, its silence on the involvement of Shivambu was deafening.

Following this, the only prominent EFF leader to address the allegations before Malema’s tweet was the party’s national chairperson Dali Mpofu, doing the party and his own reputation no favours when he first quoted Biblical figure Cain and then compared the situation to his sister giving him R20 on eNCA.

The EFF has also said that Malema will be addressing the media at a press conference this coming Tuesday at the party’s headquarters in Braamfontein.

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