‘SAY IT TO MY FACE’

JULIUS Malema said he should have been invited to be a part of the meeting President Cyril Ramaphosa and his delegation had with US President Donald Trump.

The grootbek Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader told a crowd of his supporters that he would never be intimidated by Trump at the Mminara Sports Ground in Kwakwatsi, Free State.

Malema was a topic of a heated discussion in last week’s White House showdown between President Cyril Ramaphosa and Trump. 

Trump used videos of Malema chanting the controversial “Kill the Boer” struggle song to back his claims of a “White Genocide” happening in South Africa.

But Juju says: “Comrades, we must defend our country against imperialism. The only organisation that is hated by imperialists is the EFF. I will never be intimidated by America.

“They were speaking about me in that meeting at the White House. If they were not gossiping about me, they should have called me into that meeting. I would have answered everything that Donald Trump wanted from us.”

Malema said that if US officials were not afraid of him, they should have included him.

He added: “That nonsense that Trump did in America, he will never do that nonsense in my presence, because I will confront him here and there with the facts.”

He accused Ramaphosa of cowardice for not defending South Africa during the high-level meeting.

Juju added: “You’ve got a cowardly president. He left here, and he won’t be bullied. When he arrived there, he was shaking. Donald Trump said to him, ‘When you say farmers, you mean white people.’ He kept quiet.”

More recently, the US granted refugee status to 49 white South Africans, citing racial persecution, another claim denied by Pretoria.

Malema also said Trump questioned Ramaphosa about why he has not been arrested.

He said: “He told Ramaphosa, ‘Why are you not arresting Julius Malema? Why is Julius Malema not in jail?’

“You must understand one thing. When Trump says, ‘Why is this man not in jail? Why is this man not arrested?’ he simply means, why is this man not dead? Why are you not killing this man who wants to kill white people? In that White House.”

Meanwhile, former president Thabo Mbeki defended the controversial “Kill the Boer” chant — widely sung by Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema — saying it was a symbolic expression rooted in the anti-apartheid struggle and not a literal call to violence.

Mbeki said in an interview with SABC News: It was a chant during the days of struggle. “Chants of that kind in our tradition, in the African tradition, you don’t take them literally.”