Malema: Zuma’s daughter and I begged him to put Mbalula in Cabinet

EFF leader Julius Malema has opened up about how he helped get Police Minister Fikile Mbalula into Cabinet in an interview with Capricorn FM on Monday evening.

Malema said he used his close relationship with President Jacob Zuma to plead for Mbalula to join others in parliament after Zuma expressed his intentions to exclude Mbalula. According to Malema, even one of Zuma’s daughters was involved in persuading the president to include Mbalula.

“I took Zuma’s daughter and went to plead with the father to include Mbalula in Cabinet. I actually used Peter Mokaba’s example that personally, with Thabo Mbeki, my grudge with Thabo Mbeki was when Peter helped to make him president, and when Thabo became president, he said: ‘I don’t have plans for you Peter in my Cabinet and all of that,’ and if you’re doing that, you’ll be repeating what Thabo did to a youth leader, and we’ll not be happy with that,” he said.

That is when Zuma decided to include Mbalula in Cabinet, proving the president did listen to Malema’s suggestion.

Malema also played a role in making former president Kgalema Motlanthe deputy president, when ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe misunderstood his intentions.

“Gwede said to me that Zuma says Kgalema doesn’t want to be deputy president. The thing changed then Kgalema was president, and then changed again, and Zuma became president.

“Gwede said Zuma told him this guy doesn’t want to be deputy, then I went to speak to Kgalema, and he said to me: ‘No, the guy came to me and said, do you want to be a deputy president? and I can’t say yes,’ and I said to him: ‘It’s your call. I must give him space to choose whoever you want to choose as a deputy president.’

“Then I went to Zuma, and said: ‘He said it’s your call. You know how Mkhuluwa is; he’s not going to say, yes, I want to be deputy president. He’s being polite, he’s being ANC, that’s how it has always been.”

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