'Sushi King' opens up about Julius Malema

The war between the "sushi king" and the commander-in-chief of the Economic Freedom Fighters escalated this week with the release of two hard-hitting letters.

On Monday 9 February, as if Julius Malema did not have enough to contend with as the opening of parliament neared, former convict Gayton McKenzie unleashed a barrage of accusations in a letter daringly titled "Thug to Thug".

In it, McKenzie accused South Africa's enfant terrible of hiding a child he had with a Pretoria woman and of leeching off Kenny Kunene - nicknamed the "sushi king" for his unappetising penchant for eating the Japanese seafood off women's bodies.

McKenzie went further, telling Malema off about abusing the EFF's credit cards and saying his close political associate, Floyd Shivambu, was so poor that Kunene had to pay for his car tyres.

Back in Sandton, Kunene held his tongue until last Friday afternoon when, in an interview with the Sunday Times, he laid bare some of his dealings with Malema.

"Julius says I failed in running nightclubs and also failed in politics, but he must know I've never failed in exposing corruption," he said. In 2002, Kunene and McKenzie were part of a group of prisoners at Grootvlei prison who made a video that exposed corruption by prison officials.

He said he would not keep quiet if people in the EFF made allegations of corruption.

Among the allegations McKenzie made in his letter was that Malema had taken orders from an ANC faction opposed to President Jacob Zuma.

"We know that he met them on the 18th of January at the Maputo Southern Sun hotel," said Kunene. He would not give names, saying only that they were influential in the ANC.

Kunene also raised the issue of Malema's child with a Pretoria woman, which Malema had previously denied.

"The mother of the child threatened to go public," he said. "Julius then decides to give her money to shut her up."

Malema refused to respond to the allegations of financial mismanagement.

He denied meeting ANC members or orchestrating the booing of Zuma at the memorial service for Nelson Mandela in 2013.

"The way I am attacking the ANC these days, if there was such a meeting the ANC would have leaked the information long ago," said Malema.

He said the only ANC member he had spoken to was Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who had raised - in jest - not being invited to the EFF leader's wedding in December.

"We laughed about it," said Malema.

However, on Thursday, a letter said to have been written by Rirhandzu Baloyi, the EFF's national financial accountant, to EFF member Andile Mngxitama (above) emerged. In it he accused Mngxitama, Kunene and McKenzie of having extracted information from him under false pretences.

Kunene said he believed Baloyi had been put under pressure by Malema or Shivambu to write the letter. During the interview, Kunene produced recordings on his phone of conversations with Baloyi. These supported allegations in McKenzie's open letter to Malema.

He said Baloyi also went to his house. "The boy was terrified," said Kunene. He said Baloyi was "nervous" and asked for whisky even though he did not drink.

He said Baloyi said he had been instructed to make up invoices.

The EFF last week accused Mngxitama of "working closely" with Kunene and McKenzie. This triggered McKenzie's letter about the EFF and Malema's alleged involvement in financial irregularities.

Kunene said he was not afraid to "expose corruption".

He said Baloyi had given him information about how party money was spent.

"Let's say we did impersonate the Hawks," said Kunene. "[Then] why did he take the documents, bank statements, e-mails of the organisation to give to the Hawks?

"You only give the Hawks documents if you are opening a case, or if there's wrongdoing."

Mngxitama, who was attacked by the EFF during his attempted press conference in Cape Town on Thursday, refused to confirm or deny that he had gone into hiding because "state security" had warned of a plot to kill him. However, he has hired bodyguards and changes accommodation every day.

"What I can tell you is that my life is in danger and my party leadership is implicated," said Mngxitama.

Malema said Mngxitama was "scared of his own things".

"This is exaggeration of self-importance. He must relax," said Malema.

mahlangui@sundaytimes.co.za, shobas@sundaytimes.co.za