“We will go to their homes and fight them in their own houses with their own families.”
These words, like ricocheting rubber bullets fired at protesters, have bounced back to EFF leader Julius Malema in the form of a criminal complaint about intimidation.
Police minister Bheki Cele said he had “noted with disgust, the reckless, irresponsible and dangerous statements calling for the attack on police officers” by Malema when he addressed supporters in the Free State at the weekend.
FF Plus leader Pieter Groenewald on Tuesday described the comments as “reckless and poorly disguised threats of violence” against police officers and said the party was in the process of lodging a criminal complaint in terms of the Intimidation Act.
In terms of the act, a person found guilty of intimidation can be fined up to R20,000 or be sentenced to 10 years in jail.
Malema was speaking in Mohokare municipality on Sunday. He condemned the use of force by police, who shot rubber bullets at protesters and particularly women, describing them as “cowards” and “fools”.
“If South African police want a fight they must declare it. We will treat them the same way we treated them in the ’80s. We will not only fight them at the picket lines, we will go to their homes and fight them in their own houses with their own families,” he told supporters. “We are not scared of police ... They think this uniform gives them some superior power. We will see you after you take off the uniform, at night at home when you are about to eat pap.”
Groenewald believed the sentiments were unacceptable and had the potential to plunge the country into conflict.
“Decisive action must be taken against Malema because he is becoming more and more radical and he seems to think that he is unassailable. The FF Plus will ask the police to urgently launch an investigation into the matter because they cannot allow this type of threat to go unpunished.
“It would be absolutely unacceptable to let Malema get off scot free,” said Groenewald.
Cele had earlier said that Malema had “crossed the line. You are not going to threaten the police and think they will just fold their arms.” He added that “no one has the right to threaten the police when they conduct their work”.
Cele’s office declined to comment beyond this statement on Tuesday.
Dangerous Trumpian provocation or just a political metaphor?
Wits University politics lecturer and political analyst Prof Sheila Meintjes said on Tuesday that Malema’s behaviour was that of a populist leader and if people heeded his call to attack officers at their homes, that would be illegal.
“It is so reminiscent of the way in which populist leaders behave, including, if you think about it, Donald Trump, so it’s like a Trumpian provocation. I do think it’s unacceptable because you are stirring a pot of anger, possible illegality, and of course there is no win for people who do it. They will find themselves at the wrong end of the law. It is pretty outrageous really,” said Meintjes.
Political analyst and associate lecturer at Unisa Dr William Mpofu said there was nothing harmful in the sentiments expressed by Malema, adding that they were merely a “political metaphor”.
“Malema seems to me to be taking a political metaphor extracted from South African history, particularly, from anti-apartheid activists, where these activists would isolate the apartheid police in their social, family and other contexts where they were weaker. I understand the statement as a political metaphor and not a declaration of war.”
Mpofu did not agree that such opinions could plunge the country into conflict.
“Audiences have brains and sensitivities. It’s not touch and go where people just erupt, start beating or burning each other. That statement assumes people don’t think, which is wrong because they process messages, they don’t just act on them like robots.”
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