First they were called dogs, snakes, baboons and cockroaches. Now the Congress of the People (Cope) is a British puppet, like Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change, according to ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema.
Malema claims the ANC is aware of trips by Cope leaders to ”London, Nairobi and Namibia” where they are ”working with those who have been opposed to the revolutionary movement”. He made the claim for the first time last week during the ANC’s election campaign in the Eastern Cape, where Cope poses a threat to the ruling party.
At the ANC election manifesto launch in East London he also suggested Cope was only able to hold its national summit at the top-end Sandton Convention Centre because ”they are foreign-funded”.
”They are working with the imperialists; they are no different from the MDC and [Kenyan Prime Minister Raila] Odinga’s party; they are puppets of the West,” Malema told the Mail & Guardian in an interview. He did not attempt to square this claim with the ANCYL’s supposedly fraternal relations with the Zimbabwean opposition, the youth wing of which it regularly visits.
Malema explained that Britain’s agenda was to ”micro-manage Africa” and wrest control of South Africa from the ANC. ”The plot has always been there to destroy the ANC. They want to take over and exploit our mineral resources,” he said darkly.
Cope provided the gap that the ”imperialists” have been seeking since 1994 to regain a foothold in South Africa.
Asked if he had evidence of a Western plot involving Cope, Malema said this was unnecessary.
”There is no need for evidence, we are not in a court of law, this is politics. They are carrying out the mandate of the imperialists and they are representing only their interests.”
Pressed on Mugabe’s claims to be a victim of imperialism, Malema was equivocal. ”We agree with Mugabe on land redistribution, but we think it should not be done at the expense of the suffering of the people.”
He urged Zimbabwe’s youth to rise up and ”start a succession discussion” to get rid of their octogenarian leader, who had ”unfortunately overstayed his welcome”.
British High Commission spokesperson Russ Dixon said the British government did not fund political parties.