Richard Mdluli – former head of crime intelligence – must be removed from the police, expelled ANC Youth League president Julius Malema told the National Press Club in Joburg on Monday.
Malema, speaking under the banner of the ANCYL at the Gordon Institute of Business Science in Illovo, called on President Jacob Zuma to offer Mdluli an ambassadorial post in Somalia.
Malema made these comments when reacting in a wide-ranging media briefing to the decision of the ANC national disciplinary committee of appeals to uphold his expulsion from the ruling party.
He slated minister of police Nathi Mthethwa and the police management’s decision to move Mdluli from crime intelligence to its operational division.
He said Mdluli would continue to tap the phones of people believed to be critical of the ruling party under Zuma.
“Apartheid agents are receiving protection from President Jacob Zuma and the minister of police while those who are loyal to the ANC are being suspended and expelled.
“You (society) are going to deal with Mdluli permanently. Society lives under fear. We are creating a police state,” Malema warned.
He kept journalists in stitches, talking about the pervading fear of being under surveillance.
“You can’t make a call to SG (secretary-general Sindiso Magaqa) without having not to greet Mdluli. You first have to greet the SG, then you also must say ‘Hello, Mr Mdluli’.
“If I was responsible for the police, I would ask Mdluli to resign and offer him an ambassadorial position in Somalia. I would also draft his letter of resignation,” Malema said.
Defiant,
he declared: “I am still the president of the ANC Youth League” and predicted he was destined to be “a leader of the ANC” in the near future.
“Put it in your archives. I am going to lead the ANC,” he said.
Malema was flanked by his suspended secretary-general Magaqa and spokesman Floyd Shivambu. He said the disciplinary process followed by the ANC had been politically motivated and contradicted the ANC constitution.
“We have two options, to submit or fight… and we are not submitting. This is just a testing moment…”
A charming Malema said that despite the rough patch he was going through, he still had an undying love for the ANC. He said he would never forsake it by starting a new political party.
“It has never crossed my mind. I will never do that… My blood is black, green and gold. I will die in the ANC. I will stay and sleep here, outside the gate of the ANC. My umbilical cord was buried here in the ANC,” he said.
Malema told journalists he had obtained the blessings of the remaining ANCYL national executive committee to address them at the National Press Club.
“I was looking after my cattle in Polokwane and they called me. They assured me that I am still their president. I duly complied and agreed to address you in this gathering,” Malema said.
He berated the ANC for not taking disciplinary action against MK Veterans League members in KwaZulu-Natal for making death threats, but he refused to discuss the impending tax-evasion charges against him.
He said it was “a personal matter” but he would comply if hauled before court on allegations of fraud and corruption.
“I want those people to show me proof that I influenced tenders.”
He also denied media reports that Minister of Human Settlements Tokyo Sexwale was one of the people bankrolling his Ratanang Family Trust Fund.
ANC spokesman Keith Khoza said the ruling party would not comment on Malema’s utterances.
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The Star