Daily Sun (February 18 2015) - JULIUS MALEMA is a thief. He is living the high life similar to that of a drug cartel! AND HE IS POCKETING FUNDS MEANT FOR PARTY PROGRAMMES.
Those were the words of Andile Mngxitama, Khanyisile Litchfield-Tshabalala, Mpho Ramakatsa and Lucky Twala, who didn't hold back from bad-mouthing EFF leaders Julius Malema and Floyd Shivambu . . . but never produced the damning documentation they said they had in their possession.
At a joint press conference yesterday, the EFF MPs said they had proof of financial mismanagement, particularly credit card transactions made by Malema.
But they said their lawyers had advised them not to make the documents available to the media.
Mngxitama and Litchfield-Tshabalala were yesterday suspended for bringing the party into disrepute pending disciplinary action. In what the MPs said was the campaign to save the soul of the EFF, they made wild allegations against the party leadership.
They called for a lifestyle audit of Malema and Shivambu in addition to the court bid for an external audit of party finances.
They claimed that:
) Funds meant for party programmes were being pocketed by Malema, including money meant to bail out fighters arrested for land invasions.
) An assassination plot has been hatched to kill Mngxitama.
) A foreigner has been hired to kill former national co-ordinator Mpho Ramakatsa.
) A gang was hired to stab Mngxitama during the aborted press conference in Cape Town last week.
) Many meetings had been held between a faction of the ANC and party leadership to deliver the party to the ANC.
) Mathole Motshekga, an ANC MP and former Gauteng premier, arranged a meeting between Malema and President Jacob Zuma in Maputo but Zuma told the organisers he was not interested.
) A Golf GTI bought with party funds was registered with a company using Malema's home address.
They also questioned where Malema got the R4 million to pay for his recent wedding.
While a different group of unhappy EFF members led by Lufuno Gogoro vowed to unseat Malema, the four MPs hailed Malema as a great leader who was good at uniting people. But they said Malema was surrounded by the wrong people and needed to be rescued from the path he had taken.
In a joint statement, the MPs painted Malema as a corrupt leader who could not be trusted with power.
"Looking at the credit card expenditure, the party president is eating on behalf of the EFF," said Litchfield-Tshabalala, quoting from the joint statement.
"He bought groceries for his personal use for R10 000. He used his credit card to buy expensive alcohol in exclusive night clubs."
They claimed there was no transparency on how much was used and for what purpose.
Regarding the assassination plot, Mngxitama said he had been offered protection by the authorities and there were processes in place. No details were given on the allegations to kill Ramakatsa.
Members of the EFF loyal to Malema nearly disrupted the briefing when they stormed the gates of the hotel in Sandton. Members of the amaberete had to be called in to stop the crowd.
The EFF leadership could not be reached for comment as they were in parliament, but Floyd Shivambu tweeted: "The Bruno Mtolos of our times were busy giving us Porches and all sorts of titles today. Lies have short legs and will be exposed soon."
See the Daily Sun's new website for more on this and other stories....
The Daily Sun is South Africa's largest daily newspaper with an average circulation of 274 165 (Audit Bureau of Circulations 2nd Quarter 2014) and a readership of 5.7m (as per AMPS 2012ab). Its Facebook page can be accessed here. It can be followed on Twitter here. To find about advertising on the Daily Sun click here.
Issued through the Politicsweb iService
