Malema likens Ramaphosa to a gangster: 'He is what we thought (Jacob) Zuma was'

EFF leader Julius Malema has described President Cyril Ramaphosa as a morally bankrupt leader with questionable ethics who is “what we thought [Jacob] Zuma was”. 

Malema lambasted Ramaphosa, saying he did not deserve a second term and had proved to be unworthy of leading the country in governance and his personal capacity.

“There is not a single thing since Ramaphosa that he has done right. The economy is lagging, the price of petrol is too high, the price of food is too high. Since he became president millions of our people have lost jobs after he said he is going to create jobs,” said Malema at the closing of the red berets' conference on Sunday in Mpumalanga.

“The state of health, education in SA is no longer in good condition. When he came in they said he was going to fight corruption and grow the economy, today the economy is in a worse situation than before Ramaphosa became president.”

Malema told newly elected leaders of the EFF in the province the people of Mpumalanga were awaiting the outcome of their conference.

“They do not care who is the leader, all they care about is do you have the solution for the unemployment facing our people, do you have solutions to poverty levels that our people are subjected to, how are you going to provide water and reliable sanitation and ensure that all schools have got flushing toilets and the classrooms and staff rooms are in good condition.”

Malema added people were concerned about the state of health facilities “because [in] the whole of Mpumalanga the health facilities have collapsed”.

“There is no longer public health in Mpumalanga. All those who are sick only go to hospital to pass away. The hospitals of Mpumalanga have actually become mortuaries instead of becoming places where we are healthy people,” he claimed.

He condemned Ramaphosa for committing to move away from dependency on coal for energy — a lifeline for the Mpumalanga economy.

“The president of SA went to international conferences and signed an agreement that SA will do away with coal. We will  no longer use coal, meaning all those mines in Mpumalanga that have been created and ... jobs are going to be closed. 

“Yet you have a province of the ANC in Mpumalanga which survives through coal. Great economy! Go and meet and say we want this president who wants to close our mines for the second term because indeed we want the president to close these mines because we want the community of Mpumalanga to suffer,” said Malema. 

However, it was the Phala Phala scandal that Malema focused on to demonstrate his strong belief that Ramaphosa did not deserve a second term. 

“Corruption is at its highest level to a point where people are tired of banking money — they are banking in their own mattresses. There is no other definition of the highest form of corruption and immoral leadership than the one we have now,” he charged, taking a swipe at Ramaphosa who lost foreign currency allegedly stashed in his game reserve furniture. 

He accused the president of behaving like a gangster when he found out the money had been stolen, using state resources in a bid to recover it.

“Law abiding citizens, when something is stolen they open a case. It is only gangsters who go and steal drugs and hide them. And when they are stolen they can't open a case, they organise each other. That is what we saw when the mattress money went missing.,

“Even Zuma, the man we thought was corrupt has never used the police to go and chase after those who stole his goats and cattle, but here you have a man who is more educated than Zuma ... who is supposed to know the law he violates.”

He told newly elected EFF leaders and members gathered at the conference the ANC governing in Mpumalanga had abandoned “our people for palace politics” and encouraged them to be the opposite. 

“Mpumalanga is a well known province of corruption and potholes, when they speak about potholes Mpumalanga is the first province that comes into our heads. They [ANC] only think about themselves and those around them. So we hope when the SG [Marshall Dlamini] says you were working the whole night, the night after your arrival and you are still working now, you continue with that work ethic,” he said. 

The EFF elected provincial command team are: chairperson Collen Sedibe, deputy chairperson Rhulani Qhibi, secretary Jackson Malatjie, deputy secretary Ntsako Mkhabela and treasurer Nomaswazi Nkambule.

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