‘The Absa nonsense is not legit’ - Malema on the campaign to make Absa pay back the money

EFF leader Julius Malema has called the recent campaign for Absa to pay back the money "nonsense".

"The Absa nonsense is not legit and I will not be told by opposition of the EFF on how to act‚" he said in reference to calls for the red berets to join the campaign.

"We will hold Absa accountable through our own terms and at our own time... The people calling for the occupation of ABSA pay back the money is on the Gupta payroll."

This follows the leaking of the public protector's provisional report which found that Absa should repay R2.25bn to the fiscus for an apartheid-era Reserve Bank bail-out for Bankorp.

Malema pointed out that long before the leak of the report the EFF had said it would "occupy" Absa.

In November 2015‚ Malema announced that the EFF had established a special task team which would start work in 2016.

At the time he said his party would occupy every branch of Absa until it was given a "practical programme" of action on how the bank is going to intervene to resolve the inequalities in society.

"We targeted Absa because it is the amalgamated banks of the Broederbond... who operated during apartheid and stole our money on the eve of democracy‚" he said at the time.

Malema did not give a date or time.

He reiterated this on Monday‚ saying the EFF would not announce when it will occupy Absa.

"We not going to occupy Absa through the terms of our enemies. We said we will not announce the date and time so why are you so impatient... we said we will do it and we will not announce it and Absa will just wake up and find one day red berets all over it."

The day that the EFF occupied Absa it would be news all over the world‚ Malema said.

TMG Digital/BusinessLIVE