Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema’s remark this week that the time has come for 92-year-old Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe to hand over the baton of power has infuriated the Pan Africanist Congress.

“Julius Malema’s attack on Mugabe exposes him of being the agent of the West as he is carrying their mandate very well. He was instructed to destabilize not only the governing party but the entire country. He is again entrusted with a mammoth task of dethroning African hero of our liberation‚ Uncle Bob‚” PAC national spokesperson Kenneth Mokgatlhe charged in a statement on Friday.

“We are not humbled by Julius Malema’s attack on Zimbabwe’s freedom fighter and its President‚ Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe... Everyone knows the contribution that comrade Mugabe played in the liberation of the occupied Azania. Harare played a crucial role in training our military from both the MK‚ APLA and AZANLA. We will support Harare when that need arises.”

Malema‚ speaking at an Economic Freedom Fighters memorial for Cuba’s Fidel Castro in Johannesburg on Thursday afternoon‚ was recorded on the EFF’s official Twitter feed as saying: “We love President Mugabe‚ but we need a new leader“. He added‚ “Mugabe must pass on the baton just as Castro passed it on“.