Zuma would have a sex change for a third term – Malema

If there were a possibility of President Jacob Zuma changing overnight to become a woman so that he could secure a third term, he would have already done that. That’s how desperately he wants to cling to his position, says Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) CIC Julius Malema.

Speaking to the Mail & Guardian, Malema said the president thought remaining in power was the only effective way of preventing him from facing 783 charges of corruption that have been hanging over his head for a decade.

The CIC says Zuma has not been honest about wanting a female president. In fact, his silence on the ANC presidency race is strategically meant to divide the ruling party. According to Malema, the many candidates who have been named or hinted at to be vouching for the top job are there because the president has not spoken to anyone about the actual possibility of succeeding anyone him.

By keeping quiet, he is creating confusion within the party, hoping he will be asked to remain in the top job as a unifying figure, says the CIC.

Last month, Malema tweeted: “#3rdTermLoading mmmmm my lips are sealed but don’t say I didn’t warn you South Africa…”

Malema is known for his sometimes cryptic tweets that can leave readers scratching their heads, but this tweet was a clear reference to the ANC’s elective conference set to take place at the end of 2017.

Read more: Malema warns that a ‘third term is loading’ 

The CIC, however, is not the only one who is convinced the president wants a third term. There are memes that have been circulating on social media of the president in a photoshopped headscarf and shawl with the caption: “When they want a female president and you want a third term.”

Another one of a woman who looks like Zuma walking around at the popular Durban club Eyadini circulated on Twitter late last year, with most saying the president had been dressing up as a woman in the hopes of clinging to power.