EFF leader Julius Malema says that even if he is removed from parliament, he will remain active in politics.
This is in light of his pending sentencing at the East London Magistrate’s Court, where he was found guilty of contravening several gun laws at the EFF’s 2018 anniversary celebrations. He fired several shots in the air, trying to rouse up the crowds.
According to South African law, if Malema is sentenced to more than 12 months in prison, he will lose his seat as a parliamentarian.
He told his supporters at an EFF gathering in Boksburg over the weekend that he plans to appeal his conviction and sentence.
“I even said before the jail term that I am going to appeal this matter; so your immediate fears must be cleared. Once I appeal, it suspends the jail sentence they have imposed on me.
“Now, if they impose a jail sentence that is longer than 12 months without an option of a fine, I will not qualify to be a member of parliament, but once I appeal that, it suspends that thing. I continue those duties as a member of parliament as a member of the ethics committee, and as a member of the Judicial Services Commission (JCS).
“But even if they succeed in removing me, I have a home here called Winnie [Madikizela-Mandela] House, that is where the people’s parliament is, and that is where I will go and serve in the people’s parliament,” he said.
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The revolution continues
Malema said his calling is to be part of the revolution.
“They can take their parliament, I will remain in the struggle the same way they took their ANC membership. I remained in the struggle when they took their ANC membership from me; they took it so they can remove me from the struggle, so I am part of the revolution. No one will remove me from the revolution.”
Political analysis
Andre Duvanhage, a political analyst from North-West University, told The Citizen that Malema’s firearm court case could potentially lead to the destruction of the EFF.
“Julius is in real trouble. The only thing he can do at this point is to follow what we call the Stalingrad tactic; he will try to appeal and go the Zuma way one way or the other. That is going to be difficult. I will not be surprised that we basically, in the interim, will be seeing the last phase of Julius Malema.
“He is no longer the figure he was, being able to fill stadiums and being able to mobilise hundreds of thousands of people; that time is gone. I believe that he is going to get a tough decision,” said Duvenhage.
Meanwhile, Malema warned his party members to do their best to grow the party’s support base or face “death”.
“You need to understand the implications of dying, you need to understand that for children in the Eastern Cape, poverty survival means the defeat of poverty. When the EFF survives, it means that the war against poverty is continuing, the empowerment of our people will happen in our lifetime,” he said.
Malema is expected back at the East London Magistrate’s Court in April.
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