Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has called on all South Africans to resist succumbing to “juvenile and politically motivated insinuations” drawn from the work of the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry.
Malema used the EFF’s media briefing on Thursday not only to announce their mayoral candidates and put their campaign manifesto forward, but also to address issues surrounding his name being mentioned at the Commission, and the legal action against the ruling interdicting the Impeachment Committee.
Malema came under scrutiny at the Commission after WhatsApp messages between suspended Crime Intelligence head Major-General Feroz Khan and tobacco executive Mohamed Sayed were presented as evidence.
According to the WhatsApp messages presented before the commission, Khan allegedly coordinated, through Sayed, a plan with Malema to remove former Inspector-General of Intelligence Setlhomamaru Dintwe. The commission also heard allegations that Khan shared confidential case information with Malema, despite him not being authorised to receive it.
Malema said they reiterate the call for all preliminary findings and interim reports by the Commission to be made public and accessible.
“Those reports do not belong to the president, but belong to the people of South Africa. To handle preliminary findings and reports with secrecy undermines the constitutional principle of transparency, and risks selective and politically motivated conduct as it relates to prosecutions and arrests related to the work of the commission,” he said.
“The EFF calls on all South Africans to resist the urge to succumb to juvenile and politically motivated insinuations drawn from the work of the commission, which are not rooted in any evidence or fact. Despite all attempts to cast doubt over the organisation and its leadership, there’s been no evidence that ties the EFF to any wrongdoing, and this is a fact we remain proud of,” Malema said.
“We encourage the commission, and its evidence leaders, to rely on evidence and draw from verifiable and credible processes of the law and legal institutions.”
He said that “tabloid journalism, and speculation by media outlets who have proven vendettas, do not constitute evidence,” and using them as evidence only undermines credibility, and turns the Commission “into a weapon of propaganda”.
He added that he has not been following the testimony of former IDAC head Andrea Johnson as he has been preoccupied with organising rallies.
“I had no privilege of watching, so I will make time, I don’t know when, because it’s going to become more and more and more busy now. We are obsessed with now, running a well-oiled machine towards victory on the 4th of November.
“I’m unable to make that comparison, but even if I watched, I was not going to be in a position to give a comment, as it were, because the Ad-Hoc committee is at an end. We’re writing a report. I can’t give views here and go and give views in the Ad-Hoc committee, especially when we do the final report.
“The Ad-Hoc committee and Madlanga Commission are not the same thing. They don’t use the same style of investigation, or the same style of interrogation…
“The reality of the situation is that you’re going to have two reports. There’s going to be a Madlanga Commission report, and there’s going to be an Ad-Hoc Committee report,” Malema said.
“They may not say the same thing…they may say the same thing. They all depend on the facts that were presented and the evidence that was presented before the two entities.”
While answering questions, Malema said that he has made it clear that he knows Khan, but he has not had an opportunity to interact with him.
“I know Khan, and I’ve already made it very clear: I know Khan. He was shot, and then we were told he’s in the hospital, he can’t speak, and all of that. And I left it at that.
“If I made any call, it was to Mohamed Sayed…that’s the man I called. I said, ‘What’s happening? Did they really shoot this guy, or what is the story? Because others say he was shot, (while) others say he was not shot.
“‘No,’ he (Sayed) said… he was shot; that guy is in the hospital… But I had wrong information when I was speaking to my Mohamed; he had clear, elaborate information of what happened, and so on and so forth. And I left it there,” Malema said.
“Because I couldn’t go and see him. I can’t call him. I can’t do anything until Madlanga has done its work. If there’s anything wrong that Khan has done, the Madlanga Commission must take him on. It’s wrong for that young man of the MK Party to say, I prevented Khan from coming to the Ad-Hoc committee. I never did that.”
On the Impeachment Committee interdict, he said they believe there must be oversight in the face of the continued attempts by President Cyril Ramaphosa to avoid accountability.
“The EFF has never accepted that the president of the Republic must be treated differently from any other citizen, when serious questions arise concerning the hiding of large amounts of foreign currency, and the illegal circumstances surrounding the theft at his farm,” Malema said.
“The Constitutional Court in the judgment concerning the EFF challenge relating to the Section 89 Vote on Phala Phala dealt with the constitutional framework surrounding the parliamentary processes. The EFF, therefore, regards the recent decision of the Western Cape High Court as deeply concerning.
“…Our concern is that the judgment potentially establishes a dangerous principle whereby a court can interrupt a parliamentary accountability process that flows from constitutional proceedings before parliament has completed its work. The EFF’s position is that the majority judgment does not adequately explain the High Court’s jurisdiction to interdict the process flowing directly from the Constitutional Court’s order,” Malema said.