“How many of my MPs did you pay?” – Julius Malema slays Ramaphosa

You’ve got to love all the fun of the fair, haven’t you? There’s very rarely a more enjoyable sight than the biggest names in politics taking shots at each other in the National Assembly. After getting a grilling from John Steenhuisen, President Ramaphosa was on the end of more verbal warfare from Julius Malema.

EFF members who received money from Cyril Ramaphosa

Juju went pretty close to home for this put-down, though: Earlier this week, two EFF members were forced to resign from the party after it transpired they had been given a donation from Cyril Ramaphosa, and his CR17 fund. Tebogo Mokwele and Nkagisang Mokgosi both received R80 000, when they encountered personal difficulties.

Mokgosi said that taking money from the “enemy camp” was dishonourable and disingenuous, and had harmed the integrity of the EFF. Meanwhile, party Deputy President Floyd Shivambu said the resignations “represent superior levels of political discipline” as the women had stepped aside “for the sake of the organisation”.

It marked the tip of a very suspicious iceberg, which has been floating on South African waters for the best part of a fortnight: The CR17 campaign is said to have raised over R400 million to ensure Ramaphosa pipped Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to the post for the ANC leadership battle, and it’s not just EFF MPs on the payroll.

South Africa’s richest man, Nicky Oppenheimer, and PIC Board Executive Maria Ramos are some of the high-profile names found to have plundered their resources in Cyril’s accounts. The entire scandal has been raised alongside the suspect Bosasa donation, showing the corrupt company gave CR17 a R500 000 payment.

Julius Malema puts Cyril Ramaphosa on the spot

So with this being the first session of Parliament since these allegations blew up, it’s fair to say that there were some bones to pick. Julius Malema went for the jugular, and made light of the clandestine deals:

#RamphosaQandA Malema: This one, the last question you will answer me outside; how many of my members did you give money?

— Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFSouthAfrica) August 22, 2019

Needless to say, the point raised raucous laughter across the chamber (from 1:40 onwards):

CIC @Julius_S_Malema tells President Ramaphosa that in the VBS Scandal, 99,8% of the people implicated are ANC members, so they must stop being tjatjarag.

Also asking why Pres has a problem in disclosing the names of the people who have made contributions to him #RamaphosaQandA pic.twitter.com/eKRHLGBYDX

— Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFSouthAfrica) August 22, 2019

Cyril’s rousing response

However, you should know by now that Cyril Ramaphosa has a tongue made from the purest silver. He had a response waiting for Malema, and in turn, made the CIC look like something of a skinflint. Friendly reminder Juju: If you’re serving to Cyril, make sure it’s an ace. Because otherwise, he’ll knock it right back past you.

“The EFF put me in a very embarrassing position. These two NCOP colleagues were my most vociferous critics in the house. But where there is humanity and we interact with each other beyond party line – and when these two members needed help – we gave it them. It’s not connected with anything. It was out of deep generosity, but clearly not from your side, Honourable Malema.”

Cyril Ramaphosa