South Africa’s law-enforcement agencies should arrest ruling African National Congress party’s “criminals” for their involvement in state capture, opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EEF) leader Julius Malema has said.
Speaking during the EFF’s final rally before elections set for May 8 on Sunday, Malema said the police should arrest ANC “thugs” who are milking state coffers for personal gain.
“Police officers, if you do not know where the thugs are, come to me, I have a list. They are in Luthuli House (ANC headquarters in Johannesburg) and in the Union Buildings (seat of government in Pretoria),” he told EFF supporters who gathered at Orlando Stadium in Soweto, just outside Johannesburg, on Sunday.
“You leave the biggest thug to go around addressing people in the stadia. He doesn’t belong in the Union Buildings; he belongs (to be) in Sun City prison.”
Malema never mentioned by name who “the biggest thug” was but his supporters understood this as apparently referring to the country’s leadership, which he accuses of being part of the state capture allegations.
He added: “Police officers, you must not be shooting protesters. Demanding justice and fighting are two different things. When we are marching and barricading the roads, (it) is because the criminals in the office are not giving us what we demand. Do not shoot at us.”
Malema said the governing party had failed to alleviate poverty because it was led by “old people who should either be at old-age homes or in prison” for their alleged crimes.
He pledged that under an EFF government, black people, and women in particular, would own more than 50 percent of the land because they were the majority in South Africa.
NM/jn/APA