It's Mazzone vs Malema, as the DA MP threatens globetrotting Juju

The DA’s Natasha Mazzone says she will report EFF leader Julius Malema to the State Security Agency for “terrorist and sabotage” remarks during his speech at his party's third Western Cape assembly last weekend.

In an open letter on Saturday, Mazzone said she listened to Malema’s speech which was brought to her attention and was surprised by his “fire and brimstone” remarks considering he appeared “happy and relaxed” when in Ibiza, Spain, recently.

“However, you came back to South Africa and almost immediately started telling members of your party that you were going to seize power at any cost. You spoke about killings that would be inevitable, land that would be seized and how nothing and nobody would stop you,” said Mazzone.

“Perhaps it was the reality shock of realising that the people you claim to represent will never be able to even dream of the excesses you so frequently enjoy.”

As the opposition party’s shadow minister of state security, Mazzone said she would bypass the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) and send Malema’s speech to the State Security Agency (SSA).

“I have given up on the Human Rights Commission as nothing ever happens there. I’m not going to lay charges against you because it takes more time than I can stomach for investigations to take place, so I’m going to send the video of your speech to the South African Security Agency which, as you know, now falls within the office of the president.”

She said she believed Malema’s speech fell under the SSA’s mandate “to provide the government with intelligence on ... potential threats to national stability, the constitutional order and the safety and wellbeing of our people” including areas such as terrorism, sabotage, subversion, espionage and organised crime.

“As you can see, a lot of what you told your supporters you intend to do falls within these categories. I throw in 'organised crime' because I’m still waiting to hear what is happening with your bridge tender and the whole VBS saga.

“I think your utterances are appalling and think that if an average South African said what you did, they would be in jail, so I’m not playing around here. I intend to do everything in my power to expose you for the fraud that I think you are and let South Africans see for themselves that the only card you have to play is your hatred of white people ... hatred for anyone who doesn’t think exactly like you do.”

She also challenged Malema to a public debate to discuss his remarks and “clear up what you mean by all your threats and utterances”.

“I need to know how and why you think you will seize power (by-election results are showing you are losing a lot of support), I want to know whose throat you want to slit and, most importantly, I want to know why you talk about war and murder in what is already a volatile political landscape.

“We are two years apart in age, I was born in 1979, you in 1981, so I’m sure we will have a lot to talk about and ventilate fully.”

Mazzone said that Malema idolised “dictators and fascists” was worrying, but demonstrated the type of person he was.

“Why all the hate? Why all the violence? I personally believe you do nothing positive in the political arena and I think it’s time you are told, to your face, you are no Idi Amin, you are no Muammar Gaddafi, you are no Fidel Castro or Che Guevara and certainly no Benito Mussolini. That these dictators and fascists are your idols is deeply disturbing.”

Asked for comment, EFF spokesperson Lee An Mathys said: “CiC (commander in chief) debates with his political equals. She must ask for debates with playmates in her whiteness league.

“She can report us to whoever she wants. Unfortunately, even the descendants of the land evaders have these rights.”

TimesLIVE