Malema makes fun of the Mbalula Dubai trip scandal

EFF leader Julius Malema has responded to former drinking buddy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula’s recent scandal about his Dubai trip.

Eyewitness News published a report on Monday, saying a sporting goods supplier allegedly paid at least R300 000, possibly as much as R680 000, for a trip to Dubai by the minister and his family last year.

At the time, Mbalula was sports minister, and the company that allegedly partly paid for his trip was doing business with the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc).

Sedgars Sports, a company that has been a supplier of clothing to Sascoc for more than a decade, reportedly sponsored the trip by channelling money through an apparently inactive company.

When Sedgars Sports was asked about the trip, director Yusuf Dockrat responded by saying the company “has never made any payments as alleged”.

Speaking on the Karima Brown Show on Talk Radio 702 on Monday night, Mbalula described the allegations, that Sedgars Sport paid for the trip when he was the sports minister between late December 2016 and January this year, as malicious and a smear campaign against him.

He insisted he paid for the trip out of his own pocket, and said he was consulting his lawyers before formally responding to the allegations.

Now Malema has made fun of the situation by sharing a meme of swimming champion Chad le Clos in his Olympic tracksuit, comparing it to one of the tortoises in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie.

“Now we know why our team was subjected to duvets masquerading as tracksuits,” he said.

Now we know why our team was subjected to duvets masquerading as tracksuits… pic.twitter.com/hBGOubRQK2

— Julius Sello Malema (@Julius_S_Malema) October 9, 2017

His party also released a statement on Monday, saying it had written to Mbalula asking him if he did receive funding for a holiday.

“The EFF believes that if the minister benefited from a sports gear supplier when he was Minister of Sports, such borders on violation of the law. As a result, we will expect the SAPS, Hawks and National Prosecutions Authority to squeeze such criminality off our public offices.

“We expect the entire criminal justice system to act with the agility of a cat and ferociousness of a cornered bull in fighting against criminal elements that take bribes from suppliers.

“The EFF will be closely monitoring the developments around this case and will do everything in its power to make sure that there is maximum justice,” it said.

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