Malema has no right to be angry, it's the public who should be outraged

Professor Pierre de Vos confirms my earlier interpretation that it is not illegal for ANC Youth League President Julius Malema to have business interests.

“The ANC is correct to point out that in principle, it is not illegal or in contravention of any code of conduct for a company in which Julius Malema is involved, to receive government tenders. Malema is not an elected member of any legislature and neither is he a member of the executive. He is ‘merely’ the president of the ANC Youth League and if he happens to be a director of a company that has been awarded lucrative government tenders, so be it. It might be unwise, but it is not illegal.”

My take has been that while it may not be illegal for him to bid for government tenders — provided full disclosure is made — it is certainly immoral.

De Vos in a powerful article goes further :

“However, recognising this fact does not mean that we should ignore allegations that Malema has been involved in a company that has received more than R130 million in tenders from impoverished Limpopo municipalities. First, if this is true, it would expose Julius as a blatant liar. He told Debora Patta in a recent interview that he had no business interests. ‘I am not even rich,’ he said ‘I am poor. I am paid by the ANC … I do not have any business interests’. When Patta asked him ‘Do you only get money from ANC?’ he answered ‘yes’. The video is on YouTube, so one might want to check it out.”

The rest of De Vos’s article then puts forward a number of questions that need to be answered by Malema and is well worth reading.

Which brings us to yesterday’s ANCYL press conference during which Malema responded to the claims made by the Star and Sunday Times regarding his lifestyle :

According to the ANCYL Youth League president he owns only one house which is bank financed and one car, a Mercedes Benz C63. With regard to the allegations in the Sunday Times ie that Malema’s companies were awarded more than 20 contracts, worth between R500 000 and R39 million between 2007 and 2008, he responded by saying that he was not going to “dignify these misrepresentations and lies” with a comment.

He then went on to say that he had nothing to hide, and merely wanted to “put the record straight”. He further confirmed that he had resigned from all company directorships that he was involved in at the time that he assumed his position as president of the ANCYL in 2008. Moreover that he has not been involved in any illegal tender processes.

In conclusion that his only income is that which he receives from the ANC, and while that is higher than what has been reported, he would not disclose the amount due to his employment contract obligations.

By late yesterday afternoon News24 had made an absolute nonsense of the claims made by Malema at the press conference.

“Johannesburg — ANCYL leader Julius Malema was on Monday afternoon still listed as a director of SGL Engineering Projects — despite his claims to the contrary in the morning.” (News24)

When Sapa tried to contact the ANCYL for comment they got the following response :

ANCYL spokesperson Floyd Shivambu said: “He (Malema) gave the orders to the lawyers, whether the database was updated is not our problem.”

He said he took exception to the fact that a journalist who did not attend the morning briefing contacted him about the issue.

“You are out of order. F*** you,” Shivambu said before putting down the phone. — Sapa (IOL)

Hardly the type of conduct to endear them to the media when caught out in a blatant lie or worse — if Malema is to be believed — that despite instructing attorneys nearly two years ago he hasn’t bothered to do a simple check to see if this has been carried out and thereafter he goes and advises the public of things that are factually wrong.

Worse still, instead of doing damage limitation Malema is lashing out at members of the ANC for acting like (former president) Mbeki, pointing fingers at the alliance for receiving unrelated money and the ANCYL are telling the media to f*ck off.

In this dust storm created by Malema the media is not missing the fact that the ANCYL president’s lifestyle begs the question of how the money was acquired, that he has now been caught lying in response thereto and that when pushed he threatens to sue the papers for defamation while the youth league swears at reporters.

In response to his threats to sue the media, I did an article for the Richmark Sentinel confirming that should he elect to sue this would be a case of shooting himself in the foot. Simply put if he goes that route then he can no longer hide behind contracts and legal niceties — you discover all documents you have, while the defendants attorneys go looking for all the documents everyone else has. When you get into the witness box you disclose everything because if you don’t heaven help you in cross-examination. Then of course there’s the matter of the defendant’s own case where they lay it all out in public to show how he lives, warts and all. If his lifestyle can’t stand up to this kind of scrutiny then I would hate to think of how he will survive what the many competent advocates and attorneys will throw at him in court.

It makes the heckling at Polokwane and lifestyle audits pale in comparison.

If the above explains what has been happening then all that is left to do is to confirm that Malema’s conduct has been appalling, his response to legitimate questions unacceptable and his call for nationalism and social upliftment of the masses hypocritical in light of his own conduct.

That the masses have to receive service delivery and upliftment is beyond question, that nationalism like anything else in a democracy is open to debate but that Malema is the party to champion these causes is now in serious doubt.

Accordingly the time has come for him to answer the questions posed and accept that in light of his present conduct he has no right to be angry but the public certainly has.