Johannesburg - Julius Malema has said that he will not respond to the allegations contained in a public letter written to him by former convict and aspirant politician Gayton McKenzie.
On Tuesday morning, Malema said: “I take it as one of those attacks. I don’t want to get involved (in the mudslinging).I shouldn’t be worried about these. I have been accused permanently in my life. There is nothing I am going to do about it. There is nothing new, if there was I will say this I will clarify. There is nothing to prove (from that letter).”
In the letter, McKenzie accuses the commander of the Economic Freedom Fighters of bankrupting the EFF through his alleged abuse of party credit cards and extorting a monthly payment of R30 000 over and above the R85 000 he receives every month as an MP.
“You’re not allowed to take one cent from your party. But you do and you threaten everyone who dares to have a problem with it. You declare they’re part of a ‘conspiracy’ against you,” says McKenzie.
The letter follows accusations last week by the EFF that its MP Andile Mngxitama was trying to divide it at the behest of McKenzie’s friend and business partner, the so-called “sushi king” Kenny Kunene.
Malema, who is determined to ask President Jacob Zuma at his State of the Nation Address on Thursday night how he intends paying back the money on his Nkandla homestead, is being accused of being a hypocrite for railing against corruption, when – McKenzie claims – he is guilty of exactly the same thing.
Addressing him as “Dear fellow thug” and “Conmander-in-thief”, McKenzie claims the reason why Malema insists the North West legislature pay convicted murderer Papiki Babuile a monthly salary as an MPL, is because Malema was party to the murder of ANC regional secretary David Chika that landed Babuile a 12-year sentence and to create a precedent whereby Malema can continue to draw a salary too should he be jailed.
“The speaker of the North West legislature has sent you a letter making it perfectly clear that what you are doing for Papiki is illegal. And yet you consistently refuse to even engage with government on what you are doing. And yet you expect people to believe that you will have a zero-tolerance approach to corruption if you become president of the country?”
Last Friday, the legislature announced that Babuile was no longer an MPL.
There will be a press conference on Wednesday on the issue.
McKenzie claims the party can no longer pay its staff or its water and light bills and has had to retrench staff because of Malema’s shopping sprees in Sandton on EFF credit cards, while his chief lieutenant Floyd Shivambu drives around in a new Porsche Panamera. The credit card limits, McKenzie says, have been increased to R100 000.
“We knew you and Floyd when you were down and out and didn’t know where to turn. Because my money is Kenny’s money and vice-versa, I had to pay for your flights. I put tyres on Floyd’s car. We fed you, paid for your petrol and your accommodation. Never in my life has any man thanked me so profusely for such a little bit of money as Floyd did. I still have his SMSes. I can show you, if you have forgotten how it was. We even arranged someone to edit your manifesto for you.”
McKenzie accuses Malema of having no political agenda whatsoever except Zuma’s destruction, one that is funded and directed by a faction within the ruling ANC itself.
It was this faction, says McKenzie, that met with Malema in Maputo and gave him the money and 6 000 T-shirts to pay for the people to embarrass Zuma at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service at FNB stadium in December 2013.
The Star
* This story has been edited to correct the spelling of Gayton McKenzie's surname.