/ 1 February 2017

Malema to Zuma: We’ll see you at Sona

Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema visited the M&G offices on Wednesday.
Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema visited the M&G offices on Wednesday.

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema is waiting for his chance to see President Jacob Zuma when he delivers the State of the Nation Address (Sona) on February 9 in Parliament. 

Since June, Malema has confidently said Zuma is planning to be president for a third term. 

The reason? To avoid a date with the court, Malema told the Mail & Guardian on Wednesday in an exclusive interview. 

With the ANC gearing up for one its most fiercely contested elective conferences amid deepening factionalism, the EFF leader said the tension in the ANC is all part of Zuma’s grand plan to remain in power.

“He created the internal confusion in the ANC with the hope that this confusion will then result in him being asked to act as a unifying figure,” Malema said.

Malema said there are at least 10 people vying for the job of ANC president. Among them is former African Union Commission chair Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who is also Zuma’s former wife. Zuma has yet to officially endorse Dlamini-Zuma, but he has reportedly hinted that he would be in support of a woman president. 

But Malema scoffed at the idea that Zuma would endorse anyone else to be leader of the ANC and the country.

“He doesn’t want any woman president,” Malema said. “If there was a possibility of him changing overnight to become a woman so that he could secure a third term he would’ve done that.”

The EFF leader said Zuma had a “personal agenda” for wanting a third term: avoiding a date in court.

“He thinks that the only effective way of preventing him being prosecuted is by him remaining in power,” Malema said

A matter of constitutional importance
Come February 9, it won’t only be Zuma who will be in the EFF’s crosshairs. Malema said Parliament itself should be dissolved because it has violated the Constitution.

“If we are people who respect the Constitution, that Parliament must be dissolved and all of us must go back to campaign afresh,” he said.

In September last year, the Supreme Court of Appeals (SCA) ruled that Parliament had violated the Constitution by using signal jammers to disrupt broadcast and cellphone signals during last year’s Sona.

“The Constitution … affords all South Africans the right to see and hear what happens in Parliament,” the SCA ruled.

Malema said that even if the same people were elected to Parliament, they would at least be there with respect to the ConCourt ruling. 

One thing is certain: Zuma will have no peace when he opens Parliament.

“We are going to Parliament on February 9 and let’s see what will happen,” Malema said.

“Zuma will find us there and as long as we’re there in that Parliament. Zuma is never going to have peace.”