Mngxitama ‘demands’ inquiry into Malema, Ramaphosa

BLF leader Andile Mngxitama has written an open letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa in which he “demands” a commission of inquiry into both allegations that the president sold out during apartheid and rumours that the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) are linked to British intelligence agency MI6.

This follows the EFF’s calls for a commission of inquiry into Mosiuoa “Terror” Lekota’s recent claims at a parliamentary debate on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s second state of the nation address (Sona) that the president had sold out his comrades during apartheid.

Responding in parliament, Ramaphosa denied the allegations, saying an inquiry would be a waste of money and advising the EFF and others not to believe Lekota’s story, as he had heard similar rumours about the EFF being an “MI6 project“, which he chose not to believe due to his belief that the party and its leader are people of “good character”.

Neither Ramaphosa’s denial of Lekota’s allegations or his assertion that he didn’t believe the EFF rumours are good enough for BLF and its leader, however.

READ MORE: They called the EFF an MI6 project too, Malema, Ramaphosa reminds Juju

In the letter, Mngxitama said that Ramaphosa did not “deny or confirm” whether or not he had written to a letter or signed statement to apartheid’s notorious “special branch” saying his comrades, including Lekota, had filled his head with “communist ideas”, in a bid to avoid being sent to Robben Island alongside them.

This echoes a tweet from EFF MP Fana Mokoena that accused Ramaphosa of not answering “two fundamental questions” in his response to Lekota’s allegations in parliament.

Mokoena wanted to know whether or not Ramaphosa wrote a letter to the special branch and why, if he did not sell his comrades out as he claimed, he was not sent to Robben Island.

Mngxitama takes things a step further, however, by demanding that an inquiry look not only into the Ramaphosa sell-out allegations but the EFF MI6 connection too.

The president mentioned that the MI6 allegations are linked to a trip Malema took to London a few years ago.

This is in line with what the BLF appears to already believe about their rival party, which Mngxitama was once a prominent member of before being expelled in 2015 and eventually starting his own party.

“It is now of public record that the EFF had met the British establishment on this occasion in question,” Mngxitama said in his letter.

“To this end, Lord Robin Renwick, the Queen of England’s representative, has confirmed in his book that he met the EFF at the request of the group,” he continues.

“This suggests that the party may have already been handled by the British intelligence agency. Otherwise, why would an organisation that claims to be socialist want to see the representative of the Queen?”

READ MORE: EFF demand answers: Why wasn’t Ramaphosa sent to Robben Island?

Mngxitama continues to allege that the EFF “returned from London a changed organisation”, claiming that its focus changed from fighting white monopoly capital (WMC) to “turning on the enemies of WMC” by starting campaigns against Jacob Zuma and the Gupta family.

“The EFF has not released the footage of its meeting with the British establishment and colonialists at Chatham House despite promising to do so,” Mngxitama says.

“Ramaphosa has fired the warning shot and the Reds have scattered into silence. Questions won’t stop until the EFF explains why it sought a meeting with the representative of the Queen, Lord Robin Renwick.”

He then repeats BLF’s often-made assertion that the EFF’s decision to form coalitions with the DA after the 2016 municipal elections is another indication that the party has sold out (BLF have even tried to popularise the hashtag #EFFSoldOut following their working with the DA).

The BLF leader ended his letter by saying his party “demands that the Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng makes all the relevant appointments including the judge who must head the said judicial commission of inquiry” which he said must take place to investigate the rumours surrounding both the president and the EFF.

The full letter can be read here.

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