Malema's politics of violence and warmongering unpatriotic and dangers to SA
16 May 2016
Julius Malema’s latest outrageous and disturbingly irresponsible public outburst calling for communities involved in protests to burn the offices of the African National Congress (ANC) rather than public property once again prove that the EFF leader lacks the necessary maturity, wisdom and temperament to lead anything. Addressing his supporters in Cape Town yesterday, Malema continued with his toxic campaign of destruction, hate and incitement of public violence and criminality – urging protesting communities like those of Vuwani to destroy the properties of the ANC rather than the schools.
This follows hot on the heels of his recent threat that he and his party will overthrow this democratically and constitutionally-elected government “through the barrel of gun”. Since their election in 2014, Malema and his party have brought anarchy both inside and outside of Parliament, disrupting Parliament and violently occupying land elsewhere in the country.
Just today , leaders of political parties contesting the Local Government Elections signed the Electoral Code of Conduct at Gallagher Estate in Midrand. The Code of Conduct prohibits language that provokes violence, intimidation of candidates or voters; publishing of false information about other parties, plagiarising a party’s systems, abusing power, privilege or influence to influence the outcome of the election. Malema’s reckless comments fly in the face of this Code and the noble pledge to tolerance and campaigning free from intimidation. The ANC reserves its rights to recourse in this matter.
Malema’s careless and dangerous discourse of violence and war talk must sound alarm bells to all peace-loving South Africans ahead of the upcoming local government elections to never allow such demagogues to take our country back to the era of political violence and bloodshed. South Africans must be careful of excitable peacetime revolutionaries who are incapable of proffering any solution to society other than to exploit public platforms to agitate for destruction, violence and war. This country, given its painful past, cannot afford individuals who harbour the most backward and dangerously anarchic tendencies which, instead of advocating for peace and calm, add fuel to the fire and cause violence where there is peace.
The volatile situation in Vuwani is extremely serious; property worth hundreds of millions has been damaged; and the future of the learners is in jeopardy. Such situation calls for leadership, which we have been providing together with patriotic stakeholders on the ground. For any South African, a parliamentarian for that matter, to use a public platform to call for more destruction and violence is reckless and a shameless demonstration of lack patriotism. Advocating anarchy merely to score few votes is self-serving, unpatriotic and a danger to our democracy.
South Africans should be concerned of this raging demagoguery, which seeks to cloud dishonest sermonising and phoney electoral promises with habitual revolutionary war talk and clamour for violence and destruction. The service delivery track record of the ANC government is unparalleled, and its impact is not only in impeccable statistical data but it is felt on the ground amongst its beneficiaries – particularly the poor. Because ours is an irrefutable record of bettering the lives of the people even our detractors find it difficult to convince the people otherwise, all they can do is to resort to agitating violence and destruction.
Malema’s reckless utterances are particularly worrying ahead of the elections, as they represent a serious threat to peaceful electioneering.
Issued by Zizi Kodwa, National Spokesperson, ANC, 16 May 2016
