Reckless or ‘shaking trees’? - six reactions to Malema’s ‘I’ll kill you’ threat

“That level of anger and the ‘I will kill you’ utterance is not constructive. It’s in no way uniting Africa.” 

This is the remark from one of the people who reacted to EFF leader Julius Malema’s threat towards a member of the Pan-African parliament on Thursday.

During day four of the fourth ordinary session of the fifth parliament, a visibly angry Malema could be heard hurling insults and threatening to kill an unidentified MP. 

“I will f*** you up outside. I’ll kill you outside. Outside this meeting, I will kill you,” Malema can be heard shouting. 

According to News24, the MP was from the Mali delegation. His comments before or in response to the exchange cannot be heard.

It is unclear exactly what triggered Malema’s comments but he made the threat amid acting pan-African parliament president Fortune Charumbira’s call for the session to be adjourned because of a positive Covid-19 result.

Watch the video from the 6:00 mark:

Shortly after the incident, one MP could be heard raising a point of order about Malema’s behaviour.

“There’s an MP who has threatened to kill a colleague. There’s an honourable member who has officially announced he is going to assassinate his colleague after we leave this chamber.”

In the background, Malema can be heard saying: “You're pointing me with a finger now.”

The chaos erupted a day after Malema called out other MPs who he claimed were unruly.

“Acting president, exercise your power, you cannot be held at ransom by hooligans. Don’t be scared of a hooligan, we can deal with him now. We are not here for him. Run this house,” Malema said.

“Why are you scared of this guy? Remove this thing from the house. We are not going to sit here and be bullied by this guy,” he said.

On social media, Malema’s threat drew mixed reactions, with many questioning the reason behind it. 

‘Julius Malema was reckless’

‘What a sorry sight to see’

‘The EFF would have would have released a statement’

‘Hypocrite’

‘Shaking some trees’

‘Malema would make a good Pan-African parliament president’