Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema shared the decks with Konka’s PR manager Linda Moeketsi on Sunday 14 November. Image via Twitter @EFFSouthAfrica
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema shared the decks with Konka’s PR manager Linda Moeketsi on Sunday 14 November. Image via Twitter @EFFSouthAfrica
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has insisted that the violent riots and looting that took place in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal earlier this month were an attempted insurrection against government, saying that the deployment of South African National Defence Force (ANDF) soldiers to assist police was unwarranted.
Speaking on Monday 26 July on the eighth birthday of the EFF, Malema said that despite his protests over the deployment of the SANDF, the EFF were never in support of the chaos that left thousands of businesses in ruins and led to the collapse of critical supply chains.
‘There was no insurrection attempt’
“Anyone who suggests that what transpired in South Africa two weeks ago is an insurrection is a charlatan, an opportunist, liars who have substituted their brains with hot air,” Malema said on Monday.
The EFF leader said that the deployment of SANDF troops to Gauteng and KZN is reminiscent of former US President Donald Trump’s decision to deploy forces during last year’s George Floyd protests.
“Trump deployed the military to some of the States during the George Floyd and Black Lives Matter protests, and this was hugely rejected by American military specialists and generals, who have a moral obligation to disobey illegal instructions from a Commander in Chief,” he said.
“Of course, when there is a real threat of insurrection, institutionalised terrorism and attempts to overthrow a government through unlawful means, the military can be legitimately deployed to suppress such.”
EFF ‘never supported looters’
Malema said that the idea that forces had conspired to bring down government by inciting riots is unfounded, adding that even within government there are contradictory assessments of what actually transpired.
“South Africa is not confronted with an insurrection, counter-revolution, or terrorism by all means of measure and standards, let alone a coup d’état,” he said.
“There is absolutely no one who has yet threatened to remove the sitting government through violence, and all the intelligence services, crime intelligence, SSA and Military Intelligence have publicly admitted that there is no threat of insurrection yet.”
He said that the EFF were never going to support the looting and damage to infrastructure that took place, but were merely conveying their opposition to the deployment of the SANDF when Malema threatened to “go to war” against Ramaphosa for his decision.
“Many social media commentators confused the Economic Freedom Fighters’ rejection of the deployment of soldiers into the streets to police the unrests that were ignited by the arrest of former President Jacob Zuma with the endorsement of the destruction of shopping malls.”
