Johannesburg - The office of the African National Congress (ANC) chief whip on Tuesday said it will ask the Parliament’s ethics committee to “investigate and take appropriate action” against Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema for his comments about “removing” the government.
The ANC chief whip’s office said in a statement that it “condemns in the strongest terms EFF leader Julius Malema’s reckless utterances during an Al Jazeera interview, in which he agitated for violence and threatened to overthrow a democratically elected government through ‘a barrel of a gun’”.
On Sunday Al Jazeera televised an interview with Malema in which he said the opposition “will run out of patience very soon and we will remove this government through the barrel of a gun” if the ANC continues to respond violently to peaceful protests.
The ANC said: “Malema’s utterances are irresponsible, dangerous and illustrative of an immature politician with no comprehension of the consequence of his public conduct”.
In the interview Malama also said: “Part of the revolutionary duty is to fight and we are not ashamed if the need arises for us to take up arms and fight. We will fight. This regime must respond peacefully to our demands and must respond constitutionally to our demands.”
However, the office of the ANC chief whip said Malema’s “recent utterances and countless other questionable conduct, both inside and outside of Parliament, bear testament to the simple fact that he has no regard for the Constitution and the oath he took when he became a Member of Parliament”.
The office of the ANC chief whip said “a threat to incite public violence and to overthrow a democratically-elected government, as we have seen in certain military dictatorships, does not only represent a serious danger to our Constitution, but to the people of this country”.
“South Africans cannot afford to take Malema’s threats lightly, given the country’s tragic past of political violence and bloodshed,” warned the office of the ANC chief whip.
“The ANC, working together with the people of South Africa, has worked very hard to achieve a peaceful and democratic political transition and thus those who make thoughtless public utterances that threaten our peace and hard-fought constitutional democracy must be shunned and isolated.
“By inciting violence and threatening to overthrow the state through unconstitutional means, Malema has not only violated his oath of office but has assaulted the very Constitution he has recently waxed lyrical regarding his loyalty to it.
“South Africans must be careful of demagogues who wave the Constitution today but threaten violent and unconstitutional regime change the next day.”
African News Agency