'Sitting with VBS Mutual Bank looters in GNU': Malema claps back at Steenhuisen

EFF leader Julius Malema took a jab at DA leader John Steenhuisen after his remarks about VBS Mutual Bank looting during the opening of parliament address debate on Friday. 

Speaking in Sepedi and without directly mentioning a name, Malema said a person with a matric who has never been subjected to a peer review “comes here and calls us VBS Mutual Bank looters”.

“I understand the mind of a rat will not comprehend that he is sitting with VBS Mutual Bank looters themselves in the government of national unity.

“The same matriculant is a beneficiary of the loot of R20bn of Steinhoff that was invested by the Public Investment Corporation,” he said as he concluded his speech which mainly focused on what he believed President Cyril Ramaphosa should have said. 

Earlier, Steenhuisen told EFF MPs: “The grannies, pensioners and stokvels who had their money stolen from VBS Mutual Bank do not sleep better knowing the people who stole from them have doctorates and master's degrees.” 

Malema said Ramaphosa shocked them during his address when he omitted to speak about international relations. He said they wouldn't recover from the shock. 

He criticised the president for not referring to international relations in a world defined by “shifting global balance of forces”.

“Shame on you that you said nothing about the genocide [in Gaza] committed in front of us because you chose glory over the dying children and women of Palestine because you are scared to offend your coalition partners,” he said. 

Everything the president said was meaningless as it was what he has been saying in all his state of the nation addresses since he became president in 2018, according to the EFF leader. 

“You state the vision you are operating under is still the National Development Plan (NDP) vision 2030, whose targets have never been met and will never be met.”

The NDP was supposed to create jobs but joblessness has increased. Its target was to reduce unemployment by 14% in 2020 but unemployment is now at about 32.9% and more than 12-million people do not have jobs. 

“Even if you meet the target tomorrow of achieving 14% unemployment, you miss the target year.

“The NPD target was to reduce poverty from 39% by 2030 but poverty today is more than 50%. More people live in poverty under your presidency than in any other period in the past 30 years.”

Malema said the NDP target was 10% of GDP for infrastructure investment but between 2010 and 2022 public sector infrastructure investment was 5.8%.

“No amount of nonsensical threats of arrests can silence us, not even death can silence us because mama Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s voice has multiplied, ours is a generational mission.”

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