EFF leader Julius Malema. Picture: Refilwe Modise
“We are entering a period of madness. Most of the time let’s spend it in the presence of masses, and in the absence of masses let’s be at home.”
Julius Malema fired this warning to his party leaders, supporters and those opposed to state capture.
During a press briefing at the EFF’s Braamfontein headquarters detailing the legal action the party intends taking on Transnet locomotive tender irregularities, Malema repeated claims he made earlier this month in which he warned SACP deputy secretary general Solly Mapaila that there was an assassination plan against him.
This time he extended the warning to others within the tripartite alliance and his own members.
Addressing the modalities of the planned hit on Mapaila, he said the primary motivation for the decision to eliminate Mapaila was because “Solly is the only one in the entire alliance who is genuinely fighting state capture”.
READ MORE: Malema: SACP must protect Mapaila, the only man Zuma is worried about
“I have never been friends with him [Mapaila] as a person. I was not doing Solly a favour. I will do that for all South Africans,” Malema said.
“That is why Zuma is having a headache. Zuma today complains about Solly the same way he was complaining about me. He wants to kill Solly. I told Solly that he must not go to shisanyama [braai parties], he must go to a rally with bodyguards and go back home,” Malema continued.
According to Malema, during the protest that took place at Mapaila’s house the plan was to lure him out of the house so he could be shot.
“They were going to protest, knowing that Solly will come out saying I am going to talk to comrades. I know them.”
He said the killing would have been attributed to a “Zuma fanatic”. Malema believes this plan was similar to a tactic using during Chris Hani’s memorial earlier this year, where it was foiled.
Malema said that at that event “they” had wanted to shoot Mapaila, evidently because the state president delivered his keynote speech first and left. He said this would have been easy because as soon as “the president leaves, security collapses”.
Malema has also warned human settlements minister and presidential hopeful Lindiwe Sisulu that she too is in the firing line.
He said those in danger of being taken out shoud bolster their security well until after the elective in conference in December, after which everything will return to normality.
Answering a question on whether he and police minister Fikile Mbalula remain friends, Malema told the media he had “never met [with] him [Mbalula] since I was expelled from the ANC”.
He said he had bumped into him at social events, including at DJ Black Coffee’s wedding held in November 2016.
He swiftly qualified that statement: “But here I can’t say I have met him. Those ANC people will slaughter him and say he is the one who is giving me information.”
For more news your way, follow The Citizen on Facebook and Twitter.
Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.
