Deon de Lange
THE ANC Youth League has taken a scatter-gun approach in defence of its beleaguered president, Julius Malema.
It is blaming everyone from the Rupert family to media giant Naspers, Absa CEO Maria Ramos, DA MP Wilmot James and other “capitalists” and “imperialists” for the difficulty in which the youth leader finds himself.
The league yesterday apparently tried to deflect attention from Malema’s family trust, which is allegedly funding the young leader’s lavish lifestyle through tender kickbacks. It said in a statement that Naspers – owner of Media24, which publishes City Press – and its “master” were behind the latest allegations against Malema.
City Press reported on Sunday that businessmen had allegedly made payments into the fund in exchange for Malema’s intervention in the allocation of government tenders.
The newspaper claimed one businessman had admitted to receiving a government tender after depositing R200 000 into Malema’s Ratanang Family Trust, and several other businessmen, notably in Malema’s home province of Limpopo, had done the same.
“(Media24) publications replicate the apartheid ideology of white supremacy and portray black people as corrupt or superstitious human beings, with no potential to develop and engage in conscious social, political and economic issues confronting South Africa,” the league said.
The ANCYL took a swipe at one of South Africa’s wealthiest families, the Ruperts, who are shareholders in Naspers, as well as ex-Treasury director-general and current Absa board member Maria Ramos.
The statement also asked whether Naspers shareholders, the Ruperts, and board members Fred Phaswane and Professor Jakes Gerwel approved of “the manner in which their (news)paper is used to fight political battles”.
The league implied Ramos had a hand in Malema’s woes as she had “publicly opposed policy positions (of the league), particularly on the nationalisation of mines”.
The statement went on to draw comparisons between the media’s revelations about Malema and the hacking scandal playing itself out in Rupert Murdoch’s media empire after revelations that the now defunct News of the World tapped into the voicemail records of several royals, celebrities and crime victims in search of tabloid scoops.
“Is the Rupert family… approving the Murdoch hacking strategy of prying into the personal accounts and private lives of political personalities?” the statement asked.
Among a list of rhetorical questions the league posed to City Press – “(we are) asking these questions not with the intention of getting honest answers from City Press” – were the following:
l “How much farm and agricultural land does the Rupert family own in South Africa today, and how did they acquire such land?”
l “If indeed an amount of R200 000 has been deposited into the trust to facilitate a deal, and this is illegal, why did City Press not open a criminal case against Mr Malema and the person who claims to have deposited a bribe into his account, because the laws of this country force them to do so?”
l “What is the role of Absa, whose CEO, Mario Ramos, has publicly opposed the policy positions of the ANC Youth League, particularly on the nationalisation of mines?”
l “Why is Wilmot James, the DA federal chairperson, a director of News24, owner of City Press, and these right-wing newspapers?”
James resigned his Media24 directorship several months before being elected to Parliament in 2009. He told The Star yesterday the league was “simply trying to duck the issue”.
“They should be focused on rooting out corruption in their own ranks. And they should understand that the DA takes issues of possible conflicts of interest seriously. That is why I resigned my position at Media24,” he said.
The league said it was asking these questions “to educate and walk with members of the public about the ulterior motive of the capitalists, imperialists and their representative in the form of the Rupert family, who will do everything in their power to maintain the status quo in South Africa”.
Complaints have now been lodged against Malema with the police, the public protector and the SA Revenue Service.
Hawks spokesman McIntosh Polela has confirmed that a preliminary investigation is under way after the priority crime unit received a case docket from the Brooklyn police in Pretoria, where AfriForum lodged a criminal complaint this week.