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If anyone ever thought journalism was a glamorous job, then they should ask the Daily Maverick’s Marianne Thamm what she had to sift through for her latest article.

Setting aside the fact that South African journalists like Thamm are subjected to all kinds of abuse online (anything that disparages the EFF immediately leads to the ‘revolutionaries’ descending en masse), there are also occasions where you are literally required to dig through somebody’s trash.

What you find, though, can shed some interesting light on how the EFF operates. To begin:

An EFF entourage that travelled to Cape Town for SONA and the subsequent parliamentary debates booked into a four-bedroom luxury Camps Bay villa priced at between R7,100 and R25,000 a night. When the Fighters checked out at 10am on Thursday 27 June 2019 they had run up a bill of about R60,000 for eight nights, most if it going to be pocketed by the foreign owner. They also left their trash out in the street. So we went through it…

The reservation was made by Larry Mavunda, CIC Julius Malema’s bodyguard. Mavunda seldom leaves the CIC’s side…

And while the EFF manifesto may call for “The Illegalisation of Alcohol Advertisement Bill, which will end the celebration and promotion of alcohol consumption in South Africa” the fighters spent at least R25,000, at a conservative estimate, much of it on the French champagne brands Veuve Clicquot, Veuve Clicquot Rich and Moët et Chandon.

Nothing like fighting for everyday South Africans, whilst necking some Veuve in your Camps Bay villa.

Even more awkward than the SONA Red Carpet interview with Pieter Groenewald.

Journalists also found empty bottles of Meerlust Rubicon (R425 a bottle) and Glenfiddich whisky (special edition at R1,500 a bottle). Observe:

Here are a few other observations from the trash-sifting exercise:

…uneaten food, used condoms, boxes of discarded unused condoms, discarded deposit slips with bank account numbers, slips of paper from purchases from H&M (yes, the store the fighters trashed), Zara as well as slips and packaging from other fast-food restaurants.

You may recall the EFF storming H&M stores in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town in January last year.

Now, this:

Siri, please define ‘hypocrisy’.

At this point, you’re justified in questioning why the Daily Maverick’s journalists feel it’s justified to go through someone else’s trash.

Here’s what they counter with:

The EFF are public servants. Those who voted for the party did so based on the principles they claim to stand for and the promises made in exchange for trust and an X on the ballot paper…

Because if these Economic Freedom Fighters want to create special economic zones in South Africa to stimulate local economies, then there are any number of “township” bed and breakfasts that could have done with the recirculation of the R60,000 they spent on their own luxury accommodation. Restaurants too in Langa and Khayelitsha could have benefited from the clearly healthy appetites and thirst of the young revolutionaries.

If the EFF wants to ban foreign ownership they should not support a foreign-owned business in South Africa. If they did not know the villa was foreign-owned they could have asked. Camps Bay is crawling with wealthy Europeans cashing in on our weak rand.

…if you would like to project yourselves as revolutionaries, as guardians of the poor and the marginalised, then you should also walk the talk.

The Daily Maverick reached out to EFF spokesperson Dr Mbuyiseni Ndlozi (three SAA ticket stubs were found in his name), asking him why the EFF would support a foreign-owned property, as well as seeking comment on reports that young women were seen leaving the house.

(Apparently, young women were seen leaving the house after the EFF entourage had checked out. As anybody on a community Facebook group knows, neighbours watch your every move.)

Here is some of his response:

We are all accommodated by parliament in Cape Town. Some of our new MP, many of which are young men and women, were accommodated in flats and hotels. And therefore there would not be any need to “rent” private accommodation for our MPs. In addition, many of our invited guests were in private accommodation as it would be expected…

I must caution you that many of our MPs, leaders and members are young, black Women in particular. The insinuation in your question that I must particularly explain the presence of young black Women leaving private accommodation comes close to misogyny. Because these young women may very well be the leadership of the EFF, unless by “EFF leadership” you mean exclusively men. It may very well be that they are the ones who were accommodated there…

Just the one problem – items recovered from the EFF trash placed Ndlozi at the luxury villa, like the air ticket stubs and parliamentary documents.

At that point, he opted for the usual stance on anything that isn’t singing the EFF’s praises:

This is laughable and typical trash journalism. You are even trying to threaten and intimidate me with all that DNA and Fingerprints. Well, am not scared of you and the rouge unit!

I have given you my response, so go on and publish whatever satisfies your rouge investigative interests.

It really is their go-to response.

When Julius Malema was contacted, he simply said, “I don’t comment on rubbish”. Not sure if he meant that as a pun, but we’ll give him the credit for it, anyway.

Admitting that she had engaged in ‘Trash Journalism’, Thamm finished by saying that they had ‘busted the Trash Champagne Revolutionaries’.

I could pretend to be shocked, but it’s nothing we didn’t know already.

[source:dailymaverick]