Julius Malema, leader of the South African opposition party the Economic Freedom Fighters Party (EFF), launched a series of personal insults against President Jacob Zuma and his family. Malema told his fellow Parliamentarians that it is the government which is most responsible for the recent plight of xenophobic violence.
President Zuma called for an end to xenophobic attacks earlier this week, which left five dead and thousands more displaced.
His concerns, however, seemed too unspirited for Mr. Malema who proclaimed that President Zuma’s statement and “body language did not suggest a leader.”
The opposition leader then reminisced about the days Cuban ex-pats educated him on the importance of understanding body language.
Mr. Malema’s diatribe continued on as he attacked members of President Zuma’s family. “Your own son continues to say these people must be killed…Your son is such a typical example of a family member you cannot whip in line.”
He blamed the government lead by President Zuma for promoting a culture of violence in South Africa, claiming that “the State, being the elder for the whole society, becomes responsible for all the violence meted against our foreign nationals.”
Mr. Malema added that “it was under your leadership that when you disagreed with people at Marikana, you killed them because you never believed in peaceful resolution of differences.”
It will be recalled that the Marikana Mine massacre, which happened in 2012, was caused by South African police gunning down unarmed mining protesters.
Julius Malema concluded his remarks by urging South Africans not to “kill each other, no country can survive in isolation.”