Juju office burglary: ANC gets fingered

30 July 2015 - 02:01 By Graeme Hosken and Babalo Ndenze

Julius Malema's parliamentary office has been burgled and his Economic Freedom Fighters are pointing fingers at the ANC. An EFF MP said that the break-in, in which "confidential" files and other sensitive party documents were stolen, was part of an attempt to weaken it.The ANC last night dismissed the claims as ''stupid and not worthy of comment'' and a publicity stunt.EFF insiders said that, instead of intimidating them, the burglary had strengthened their resolve to take on the governing party and hold it to account.The parliamentary precinct is a national key point and, therefore supposed to be among the most secure locations in the country.The burglars had sufficient time to change the locks on the door of Malema's office - though why they should bother to do so has the police baffled - ransack the office and steal files containing information about whistle-blowers in parastatals and "other government entities".Malema would not comment on the burglary, telling The Times he was " preparing for my upcoming case with my lawyers".He is to appear in the Polokwane High Court on Monday on charges of fraud, corruption and racketeering.EFF spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said there was nothing in the stolen documents that could be used to intimidate the party or "our fearless leader"."No one, not even this government, can intimidate us and stop us from the work that we are doing."He said the stolen files contained "highly sensitive information"."This includes [information on] whistle-blowers working for government departments and state institutions. The files have information on our strategies and on things that we were going to take the government up on, especially around parastatals such as Eskom."Files that contain travel and security information of the commander-in-chief [Malema] have disappeared."Ndlozi would not speculate on the exact motive for the burglary."Given the documents that were stolen, the intentions could be widespread."But he said the EFF would not be cowed."We are fearless. We are not going to take any additional steps in terms of security around our members and leaders. If this act [the burglary] was too intimidate [us], we are not shaken," he said.He hinted that the EFF believed that state security agencies had a hand in the burglary. He warned them to steer clear of party politics."Security agents of the state should keep a reasonable distance from party political issues and relations."The EFF condemns and expresses utter disgust over the reality that there is growing securitisation of parliament and all its operations. State security agencies should at all times seek to protect all citizens," he said.He said the EFF hoped that the police and the parliamentary protection services "will thoroughly and independently investigate the burglary if neither of them is involved in the act".Mandlakazi Sigcawu, spokesman for Speaker of Parliament Baleka Mbete, said the burglary had been brought to her attention.ANC parliamentary spokesman Moloto Mothapo said: ''How will we know that they did not break into their own office as a publicity stunt. They are being reckless.''Police spokesman Colonel Tembinkosi Kinana said a case of house-breaking and theft had been opened.He added that no arrests had been made and that investigations were continuing.Parliament yesterday abandoned a plan that would have allowed the police to remove rowdy MPs from the House.The National Assembly rules committee decided that only the parliamentary protection services could act against MPs in the House.Parliament was about to adopt a rule that would allow police officers to be seconded to the parliamentary protection services.In February, a signal scrambler, said to belong to the military, was found in the press gallery in the National Assembly.The device prevented journalists, MPs and the public from making cellphone calls or tweeting from the parliamentary precinct...

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