Cape Town - Government may be planning to move against former ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema, President Jacob Zuma suggested on Thursday.
Responding to questions on the Marikana tragedy in the National Assembly, President Jacob Zuma told MPs there were “activities that are not acceptable” that were fomenting tension and unrest in the mining industry.
Government was looking at these.
“And I have engaged with the ministers concerned, to discuss how do we deal with this issue. And very, very soon we will be able to let the public know. Because it can no longer be accepted.”
Zuma, in an apparent reference to Malema, who earlier this week called on mine workers to engage in a mass national strike, said it was not just the striking miners who were engaged in such unacceptable activity.
“It is also some people of some description who are going there to instigate miners to operate in a particular way. It can not be accepted. And therefore we are looking into that; we are going to be acting very soon,” he said.
Earlier, in response to a question on what he planned to do about “the uncontrollable Polokwane political Frankenstein, Malema, created by yourself”, Zuma laughed, and said he had created no such person.
“I shouldn't be blamed for somebody who has some characteristic of his own. It's not my fault. I never participated in the production of such a person,” Zuma said, to jeers from opposition benches.
On Thursday, it was reported that the SA National Defence Force was seeking legal advice on what charges could be brought against Malema.
The day before, Malema addressed 40 of more than 1000 soldiers suspended after a protest at the Union Buildings in Pretoria in 2009. The SANDF took the unusual step of placing all its bases on high alert in anticipation of the meeting.
On Tuesday this week, Malema, speaking at a mine near Carletonville, called for workers at all SA mines to strike until the leaders of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) stepped down.
“If they (NUM leaders) don't hear our demands, we will strike for five days a month until they listen,” he said at the time. - Sapa