[imagesource: Twitter / @goolammv]
Didn’t Julius get the memo?
It’s Greece that’s in this year, Juju – Ibiza is so 2019.
The leader of the EFF was actually there earlier this month attending a wedding so he couldn’t pick his destination. Not just any wedding, either – he was a guest at the wedding of tobacco kingpin Adriano Mazzotti’s daughter.
Mazzotti owns Carnilinx and is reported to have given money to the EFF to register for the 2014 elections, as well as giving Malema a R1 million loan to pay his SARS tax debt.
One might say Mazzotti and the EFF leader go back a while.
Let’s rehash some of the footage that has gone around over the past 10 or so days, starting with Juju on the decks:
Julius Malema living his best life in Ibiza pic.twitter.com/VHWWp7GQaq
— Katlego Mamabolo (@ChiefKatlego) July 8, 2022
Malema was partying it up with the likes of the Major League DJ twins and Black Coffee and his son.
View this post on Instagram
(@majorleaguedjz)The wedding itself looked like a fairytale affair:
Do you know of the Mazzotti Family?
They are the biggest suppliers of tobacco in South Africa.
The wedding celebration of their daughter was in Ibiza attended by Julius Malema and his wife, Black Coffee and his son and the Major League DJz. pic.twitter.com/RaLBi4EwqG
— Musa Khawula (@MusaKhawula) July 8, 2022
I don’t agree with the hashtag here but these chaps are certainly living it up:
Gayton McKenzie is changing lives of the people on the ground. EFF cult leader Julius Malema is partying and drinking in Ibiza. #MalemaIsAnAlcoholic pic.twitter.com/Bd4H9jEKhQ
— Goolam (@goolammv) July 6, 2022
When quizzed, the EFF said Malema paid for himself and his wife to attend the wedding.
This report from last week by News24 warrants a revisit:
Malema, whose relationship with Mazotti stretches back as far as when he was a member of the ANC, is a beneficiary of the controversial businessman. Malema and his family live in a luxury Hyde Park house that belongs to Mazzotti, who admitted criminality to the South African Revenue Service (SARS) in 2014…
Mazzotti admitted in a signed May 2014 affidavit that he and his company, Carnilinx, were complicit in fraud, money laundering, corruption, tax evasion and bribery. In the affidavit, he admitted avoiding tax on the sale of cigarettes and paying a senior advocate, who helped him with his defences, a R500 000 bonus in cash. He also admitted to paying politicians, without naming them.
Malema is free to visit whoever’s wedding he sees fit, especially if he’s paying his own way, but the videos have led to accusations that he may be out of touch with his party’s supporters.
Throw in the looting of VBS Bank and it starts to look like a case of saying one thing and doing another.
Having arrived back home, Malema was back into revolutionary mode. Again, via News24:
During a press briefing on Thursday, Malema said his party could not sit and fold its arms as the country’s electricity and economic situation continued to affect millions of South Africans.
The EFF said it believed a national shutdown would force the government to take steps to address load shedding and rising fuel and food prices.
Although no date had been set yet for a shutdown, the party said it would join forces with other progressive organisations.
It warned that it would not be a “candle-holding exercise”, but would bring the country to a standstill.
The national shutdown would also call for the removal of President Ramaphosa as head of state and the firing of Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, Eskom CEO André de Ruyter, and COO Jan Oberholzer.
And who exactly does Malema reckon should take over the running of Eskom, the people that brought it to its knees in the first place?
