Johannesburg - EFF leader Julius Malema says he has had no dealings with the Gupta family and is confident he won’t be entangled in the saga.
On Wednesday, Malema said he would today release more damning information on the Gupta family and their connection to President Jacob Zuma.
In an interview on internet radio station, Touch HD, Malema said he or the EFF would not be implicated in the leaked Gupta emails.
A series of emails showing how the Guptas influenced cabinet ministers, the president and his son Duduzane Zuma have been leaked in the past few days.
The Hawks are investigating the source of the leak, but Malema said he has nothing to fear. “I am not in the emails I am not in the Gupta phone book. They have never called me. South Africans forget easily
“In 2011, when the ANC was launching its local government manifesto in Rustenburg, I stood next to Zuma and said we cannot be controlled by a family. I went to town about it,” Malema said.
The former ANC Youth League president - who was still in the ANC in 2011 - said in that speech he told the masses that in Polokwane, they did not elect a family, but a party representative in Zuma.
“I challenged that while sitting next to Zuma. I was never scared of Jacob Zuma.
“After I said that, Duduzane called the secretary-general of the youth league and asked for a meeting,” Malema claims.
He further stated that when he found out the Guptas were asking for a meeting, he informed them to write a letter and state what would be on the agenda.
“I have never met the Guptas. I don’t know the Guptas. They never called me. They never Whatsapped me.
I am not scared. I am a free soul,” he reiterated.
Malema said he was so confident the Gupta family had nothing on him that he would on Wednesday hold a media conference to reveal the family’s ties to the state.
“I have tangible information. None of them can take me to court. We are bringing tangible information on how monies came out of state institutions into the pockets of these people, with evidence. We are not hallucinating.”
Malema said political violence would escalate ahead of the ANC electoral conference in December. “If there is planned criminality, we will always expose it. We knew there was planned criminality, on (SACP leader) Solly Mapaila, and we exposed it. It did not even pass 24 hours and Solly was almost attacked.
“I told those close to Solly that he must not go near those who were protesting outside his house. The claim would have been that the person who shot at him was a hobo and a fanatic, with no mandate from anyone,” Malema said.
There was an alleged threat on Mapaila’s life at the Chris Hani commemoration celebrations earlier this year.
Last week, the MK Inkululeko Foundation protested outside Mapaila’s Joburg house over his calling for Zuma to resign from office.
On whether he fears for his life, Malema said he was scared of no one. “If they want to kill us they must go ahead and do it. They will not kill our ideas. Killing me is converting me into a martyr,” he added.