What did Mandela see in you that we can't?: Julius Malema to Cyril Ramaphosa

25 June 2019 - 12:21 By THABO MOKONE
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Julius Malema replies to the state of the nation address in parliament on Tuesday. He urged Cyril Ramaphosa to publicly name all his CR17 campaign funders.
Julius Malema replies to the state of the nation address in parliament on Tuesday. He urged Cyril Ramaphosa to publicly name all his CR17 campaign funders.
Image: Parliament of RSA via Twitter

EFF leader Julius Malema has launched a scathing attack on President Cyril Ramaphosa, asking what former president Nelson Mandela saw in him "that we don't see".

In a hard-hitting speech in parliament during the debate on Ramaphosa's state of the nation address (Sona) last week, Malema said there was nothing to debate as the president had presented no new ideas on tackling socioeconomic problems.

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"We really have no Sona to debate. What we have is a misguided, incoherent, contradictory and proven to be futile ideas mixed in a bag of fantasies," said Malema.

"For a man to be hyped up by the entire local and international media only to pitch up extremely low is tragic. We were abused during the election campaign that saw people like Oprah Winfrey rented and sneaked into the country in the name of the global citizen festival to come and tell us how Madiba wanted you, Mr President, to be president.

"After your speech, we now ask ourselves as to what did Madiba see in you which we can't see? Your speech did not inspire confidence and hope among the poor, young and old people of SA," said Malema.

On June 25 2019 Julius Malema attended and spoke at a joint sitting, the topic was a debate on the President's State of the nation Address. Malema touched on various issues including land reform.

The EFF comander-in-chief said Ramaphosa had been sending conflicting message on job creation, especially among the youth, since he came to office.

"Beyond this, it was a confusion about jobs to be created. At one point it was 155,000 jobs in the next five years then it was 2-million jobs in the next 10 years yet the National Development Plan speaks of a different target - 10-million jobs by 2030," said Malema.

Malema told Ramaphosa to come clean and take the country into his confidence about who had funded his ANC presidential campaign in 2017.

This follows reports that public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane was probing Ramaphosa for alleged money laundering to the tune of R400m in transactions related to his ANC campaign.

This was part of Mkhwebane's probe of a complaint by DA leader Mmusi Maimane after it emerged that Ramaphosa's campaign had received a R500,000 donation from dodgy government service provider Bosasa.

Malema urged Ramaphosa to publicly name all his ANC campaign funders if he wanted to clear his name.

"We want the president to come clean, to explain and take the country into confidence as to who are the people who donated money in the CR17 campaign, what do they stand to benefit … we need the names, not leaked documents, Mr President," said Malema.

"We don't have an intention, none whatsoever, to remove you as the president because your people have elected you democratically but if you're going to come across as being a constitutional delinquent we'll be left with no option but to engage in an impeachment process against you.

"We want you, President, where a mistake was committed, to take full responsibility and announce which practical steps you're going to take in correcting those mistakes.

"We don't see anyone in your party, if you were to be removed tomorrow, who can replace you otherwise we'll all be in a disaster. We're in a disaster now, we don't want to be in a worse disaster. Please help SA by taking it in your confidence."


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