Juju 'not scared of jail'

ANC Youth League president Julius Malema said he is not afraid of going to jail.

Breaking a seven-day silence after the City Press published damning allegations that he has been funding his lavish lifestyle through a family trust fund, Malema said he has never accepted a bribe in his life.

Yesterday, the Sunday Times reported that the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, the Hawks, has approached banks and cellphone companies to ask for the firebrand youth leader's records, in a bid to determine if he had a case to answer.

Addressing journalists in Johannesburg yesterday, Malema said he was not worried. He said calls to probe his lifestyle are "monkey-tricks tactics" by the opposition party and those threatened by the youth league's call for nationalisation and land expropriation.

Malema, who was dressed in a slick outfit and a pricey-looking gold watch, shielded off all the allegations about his wealth.

"I am not scared of jail. You can arrest me, you can never arrest my ideas. Even after jail, I will come back and pursue the struggle that I am pursuing today; I am not scared of jail.

"I am not going to be threatened with the Hawks or SARS, I am not going to be threatened with those things.

"They can lock me up, I don't care about those things.

"It they want to lock me up, and they are determined to lock me up, even if I have not done anything wrong, let them go on."

Last week, Afriforum opened a case of fraud against Malema, asking the police to probe allegations that he is living beyond his means.

Cosatu called for a multi-pronged lifestyle audit on the youth leader, while the DA said it wrote to Public Protector Thuli Madonsela to investigate the Polokwane-born 30-year-old.

"They can do whatever they want to do, they are free with me. But they must know that even from prison, I will shout economic freedom of our people.

"I will teach those prisoners there, the struggle for economy emancipation," Malema said yesterday.

The youth league president denied claims that he has been using the trust fund to extort bribes.

"If there is a R200000 that somebody put into the account, and somebody claimed that it was a bribe, that person needs to come forward so that he can say this is who I am, here is the proof that I gave you R200000 bribe.

"From where I am sitting I am very comfortable, I don't need a bribe. It will not help me in any way, that person will need to come out."

"I have never taken a bribe, that is why I speak freely without fear or favour because there is nobody who can come and say I want my money, because I have not taken anybody's money."

Malema said the trust fund is being used to fund charity organisations, and that after the City Press report, he has received more calls from interested donors.

Asked if he benefited from the trust fund, called the Ratanang Family Trust, Malema said: "That is none of your business."