EFF student leader alleges Malema’s bodyguards shot at him

A young EFF student leader from Soweto has accused EFF leader Julius Malema of allowing his bodyguards to shoot live ammunition at EFF members.

READ UPDATE: Why EFF conference allegedly ended with gunshots from Malema’s vehicle

There have been allegations that this was in response to them stoning the car he was in during the party’s Gauteng conference on Saturday in Midvaal – allegedly in reaction to unhappiness about electoral outcomes.

The allegations have since been picked up on social media and have been causing a stir.

The primary source is Mphahlele Phasoane Mpho, who took to Facebook early on Sunday to write: “We managed to be safe all of us, after DOR [defenders of the revolution] came and attacked us innocently chilling awaiting results of the assembly. Unfortunately, its only one cadre who was beaten to unconsciousness and he’s in hospital, sure to head to ICU because his condition was brutally unappealing.”

Mpho describes himself as the EFF’s chairperson of its student command at the UJ Soweto campus.

“The DOR that was instructed by Julius came and nearly killed our people. When Hitler fell during his times, it was because of dictatorship. Tonight we survived. We dodged bullets from Malema’s Military.”

Later, he followed this up with another post in which he said: “Mme Winnie Mandela died too early. Only a few months after, his child misbehaves. This shows the hypocrisy of inspiration. If Malema is able to shoot at EFF members, what can he do to the whole country if he is president?

“If Zuma was not a leader, people would have died for insulting him like they did. He was insulted even by total nothingers. He never reacted to any of such because he’s a leader of the people in the public sphere where he will always be insulted.

“Malema insults people all the time. It’s not good when he’s told that he’s a sellout to a point he shoot at us. Teargas affected my eyesight. He says he doesn’t give a damn about Soweto people. He says EFF doesn’t exist in Soweto.

UPDATE: Since the original publication of this article, The Citizen spoke to Mphahlele Mpho at noon on Sunday. He was originally unhappy that his posts had been republished without his consent but then accepted that they had been put in the public domain and consent was not required.

He maintained that they had been truthful despite the fact that he deleted them, though he was not willing to discuss the details of last night’s alleged violence, other than to confirm that “the security of the EFF” had been involved and were allegedly responsible for putting a man in hospital.

He said he was still waiting for information on the alleged victim’s condition. As for whether he would be taking the matter further, he said he had no powers to do so and it was up to his immediate leadership to make a decision.

While the EFF’s timeline showed photos and videos from their three congresses on Saturday, there was nothing about any alleged violence or conflict.

Before Mpho deleted his Facebook posts, he was variously told by other EFF members that he was peddling “propaganda”, or was just bitter about the results and should try to accept them.

Others, however, expressed support for him.

The EFF is yet to make a statement about the allegations. Attempts to contact EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi were unsuccessful.

A later tweet showed that Malema was in Mpumalanga on Sunday, and none the worse for wear.

Malema made headlines last month for allegedly firing live rounds into the air at the party’s birthday celebrations in the Eastern Cape.