Nothing causes more outrage than Julius Malema quotes. The EFF leader is the pantomime villain of South African politics. Considering he shares a stage with Jacob Zuma and Malusi Gigaba, that is some going.
When he speaks, people listen. However, they also get incredibly cheesed off. Malema’s lack of filter has made him king of the soundbites, and the best friend of controversy.
He’s offensive, abrasive, witty and sassy. Julius Malema is political marmite, and he’s left a trail of verbal destruction during his ANC and EFF days.
Upon leaving the ANC, The EFF leader accused the party of ‘drugging the public’
“The ANC is giving people alcohol and nyaope [a highly addictive drug] because they are cheaper than education. We thought that after 1994 we would live better than white people, but we are worse off than them today.”
He used vividly gross imagery to describe how the ruling party discard of members they no longer want:
“We are used like toilet paper that is flushed in the toilet. We are used like condoms — those who use condoms will know how condoms work, they use them and they throw them [away] somewhere else.”
Juju presented his theory as to where Zuma’s priorities lie…
“I don’t know what is a priority to the president. Maybe getting married every year? He specialises on that one.”
Julius Malema and his offensive insults:
He has PLENTY more where that came from. If insulting Jacob Zuma was a sport, Julius would be an Olympic gold medallist. However, he infuriated a large portion of South Africa when he used a pretty terrible rape analogy:
“Zuma is dumb … he is the number one fool, and it took me one year after the Polokwane conference to realise that he is dumb. Zuma wanted to continue molesting me without Vaseline.”
Following a Democratic Alliance rally, Juju was less than complimentary about Helen Zille’s dance moves. He absolutely savaged the then-DA leader’s public interaction:
“Ever seen an ugly woman in a blue dress dancing like a monkey because she is looking for votes? She is a cockroach … she dances like a monkey.”
He’s got international ambitions, too. In one of his more poignant putdowns, Malema attacked the USA for their foreign policy. He may not be blessed with decorum, but his point really cuts to the core of American politics.
“They can’t think. They don’t know politics. Every year you are bombing this or that nation, because of your thirstiness for blood. We want to ask a simple question to the imperialists. Are you not tired of seeing blood every year? You blood thirsty imperialists.”
Juju’s views on society:
When on trial for alleged hate speech, he vehemently stuck to his freedom of expression.
“They can lock me up. I don’t care. I will go and come back. You cannot silence political debate through scaring tactics. You can arrest me, but you can’t arrest my ideas”
He patronised the f*** out of members of the ANC a couple of years ago, too. Needless to day, they weren’t best pleased with his ‘offer’:
“Even those who make mistakes, we must try and help them. But we can only help if them if they are ready to be helped.”
And the downright ugly…
This is the darker side of Malema, unfortunately. His offensive comments often stray into the territory of bad taste and wind up most of the country.
Here’s one even he won’t want to see again, though. Whilst still part of the ANC, he preyed on Nelson Mandela’s illness in order to canvas votes. It was utterly appaling:
“President Mandela is sick and you don’t want to contribute to a worsening condition of Mandela by not voting ANC. President Mandela will never endure if the ANC is out of power.”
Then of course, his comments on race. At best, they are ill-thought out. For the most part, they are completely divisive. He dragged two of South Africa’s most populous cultures through the mud earlier this year:
“Indian people are worse than Afrikaners. This is not an anti-Indian statement, it’s the truth. Indians who own shops don’t pay our people, but they give them food parcels.”
His threats against whites have been his most contentious statements, though. His refusal to rule out the ‘slaughter of white people’ in 2016 caused fear and shock.
“When whites arrived in South Africa, they had committed “a black genocide” when blacks were dispossessed of their land. “They found peaceful Africans here. They killed them. They slaughtered them like animals. We are not calling for the slaughtering of white people, at least for now.”
There are very few people left in this country – perhaps this planet – who Julius Malema hasn’t pissed off. It’s a good job you don’t have to pay for free speech, otherwise Malema would have been out pocket a long time ago.
Read More:
= Xenophobic attacks: Create jobs for your citizens – SA High Commissioner to African leaders.
= Xenophobia: Another country joins race to boycott South Africa.