‘What rule of law is this?': Irvin Jim slams Malema's 'undemocratic' Twitter suspension

National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) general secretary Irvin Jim has slammed the temporary suspension of EFF leader Julius Malema on Twitter this week.

Twitter suspended Malema for several hours after it found him to have violated its rules.

The service limited Malema’s account to sending direct messages to his followers, and prohibited him from tweeting, retweeting, following accounts and liking posts.

Jim lambasted the decision, calling it “completely undemocratic”.

“The fundamental question is what process did Twitter follow before they suspend[ed] [Malema]? Did they hear his side of the story?” asked Jim.

“We are in a democratic country with a bill of rights and freedom of speech, it must be condemned,” he added.

“Which rule of law is this? Which court of law did they approach before they violate his right by suspending his account?” he asked.

Attempts to get further comment from Jim were unsuccessful at the time of publishing this story. Comment will be included once received.

Before his account was suspended, Malema had called for EFF supporters to oppose the deployment of soldiers in areas affected by violent protests and looting.

This after President Cyril Ramaphosa, on Monday, authorised the deployment of the military to quell the violence.

After the suspension was lifted, Malema announced his return by asking his followers to help track an old woman who was caught on camera allegedly being detained by police.

“I'm back, and please help me find our Gogo. Already dispatched the legal team to look for her at the police stations this morning,” he said.