[imagesource: Twitter / @Khalangaandrew]

There’s nothing wrong with a politician letting their hair down once in a while.

You only have to look at the uproar around Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin and her jolling to know that it’s a fine line, though, especially if you position yourself as a person of the people.

Julius Malema: commander in chief, revolutionary, and also a man who clearly enjoys the finer things in life.

According to Jacques Pauw’s new book, Our Poisoned Land, the housekeeper of an upmarket apartment in Sandton has some interesting stories to tell about Malema and his pal, tobacco kingpin Adriano Mazzotti.

Following on from his hugely successful The President’s Keepers, Pauw says his latest book will “lift the lid” on the relationship between the two.

News24 was recently given a sneak peek:

Pauw lifts the lid on skulduggery in the Hawks, mafia networks at Prasa and the depths of Malema’s relationship with Mazzotti.

Exclusive interviews with a housekeeper and a Malawian chef, who catered for the EFF leader, challenges his version of having only received a R200 000 donation from Mazzotti once in 2014…

“Over a period of several years, claimed my source, Mazzotti plied Malema with cash, and his or Carnilinx’s apartment in the Raphael Penthouse Suites in Sandton became a party venue where Malema, members of the EFF top command and their guests partied with expensive alcohol and food.”

The housekeeper is referred to as Margaret in order to protect her identity.

She says she started working for Mazzotti in 2009 and also looked after one of his apartments, which was often used by Malema and his colleagues from 2014 onwards:

…the woman stuck to her story, claiming that Malema would regularly fetch envelopes stuffed with cash, on which the name “Ju” was written. She said he would collect these from both the Raphael apartments…

She says in her affidavit that Malema and his cronies would leave behind cracked bottles of Moët French champagne that they had forgotten to take out of the freezer, empty bottles strewn across the lounge, dirty plates with remnants of flame-grilled chicken-and-chips, used condoms and female underwear in the bedrooms.

Leaving the Moët to crack in the freezer is inexcusable. Heads must roll.

She also said she saw “traces of white powder on a DVD cassette” and “a rolled-up note next to the cassette”.

I think we can connect the dots, there.

Pauw also spoke with a Malawian chef, Mbewe, who started working for the Mazzottis in early 2014. He says he regularly handed bags stuffed with cash to Malema’s driver or bodyguard and backed up Margaret’s claims about “a trail of destruction” being left behind after parties at the apartment.

Mbewe also spoke of “used condoms in the toilet” and “some of the underwear of girls in the apartment”.

Pauw, who was last in the news for his embarrassing piss-up and subsequent arrest at the V&A Waterfront last year, is pretty much guaranteed a bestseller following the EFF’s legal demands.

Again via News24:

Malema, Floyd Shivambu, and Mbuyiseni Ndlozi demanded that News24 retract its story and publish an apology. They also demanded that Pauw and NB Publishers immediately withdraw the book, including the removal of the book for sale from resellers.

The letter threatened court action should their demands not be met.

In response, NB Publishers used the letter as a PR instrument;

BREAKING NEWS – for immediate release: Malema’s lawyers demand that Jacques Pauw’s Our Poisoned Land be removed from shelves

Our attorneys have responded to the letter received.

Media enquiries: Jean Pieters jpieters@nb.co.za pic.twitter.com/zWgZOiGxyQ

— NB Publishers (@NBPublishers) November 15, 2022

You’ll be seeing plenty of this in the coming weeks and months:

Julius Malema’s lawyers have demanded that Jacques Pauw’s new book, ‘Our Poisoned Land: Living in the Shadows of Zuma’s Keepers,’ be removed from shelves.

Go out and buy the book. Buy copies for yourself, family members, colleagues, contacts, anyone.

Spread the information. pic.twitter.com/1CeyoihJs0

— Chris Hattingh 🌐🚢🏭📈 (@ChrisHatt11) November 15, 2022

News24 was also unbowed in the face of legal pressure:

Responding to Ian Levitt Attorneys, Willem de Klerk Attorneys, acting for News24 editor-in-chief Adriaan Basson and NB Publishers, said the book was lawfully published and News24’s report on it was entirely justified.

“Your demands for an unconditional retraction and apology from News24 and NB Publishers, as well as the immediate ‘removal of the book… from resellers’, are rejected,” the letter added.

To quote Little Britain, “computer says no”.

If you know anybody who likes to spend the post-Christmas period hate-reading about some of South Africa’s least savoury dealings (allegedly, of course), Our Poisoned Land could be just the gift they need.

[sources:news24&news24]