Malema: We will hold Ramaphosa responsible for any loss of lives | News24

EFF leader Julius Malema.

• EFF leader Julius Malema has used his June 16 address to attack President Cyril Ramaphosa, calling him an “apartheid collaborator”.
• Malema lashed out at the Ramaphosa administration’s decision to reopen the economy during the Covid-19 pandemic. 
• Speaking at a virtual Youth Day rally commemorating the 1976 uprisings, Malema said Ramaphosa will be held personally liable for Covid-19 deaths. 

EFF leader Julius Malema says President Cyril Ramaphosa will be held personally liable for the loss of lives as a result of the coronavirus because he recklessly reopened the economy.

Speaking in a virtual Youth Day rally, Malema called for the reinstatement of the ban on alcohol saying the protection of life must valued over the desire for profit.

“We have warned Cyril Ramaphosa, who has constituted himself as an ally of white-monopoly capital and the coronavirus, that he will be held personally responsible for the loss of life that is going to happen as a result of his decisions,” Malema said. 

The EFF commander in chief reitterated their opposition to the opening of schools and of the economy, as Covid-19 cases increase in the country. 

“We want to warn Ramaphosa and all his accomplices that the mass deaths we are to witness over the coming weeks are due to his lack of decisiveness at a time when the country needed leadership.”

He said the decision to reopen alcohol sales under Level 3 of the nationwide lockdown was reckless, as it burdened an already overwhelmed healthcare sector. 

“To make matters worse, the President of the country has allowed the sale of alcohol in a country that has a history of high fatalities and hospitalisation due to alcohol-related inter-personal violence,” Malema said.

As of Monday, there were 3 495 new Covid-19 cases bringing the total infections to 73 533. A total of 1 568 people have died due to Covid-19 complications. 

Malema’s lengthy address was dotted with attacks against Ramaphosa, as he used the occasion to cast aspersions on the president’s struggle credentials. 

He went as far as calling him an apartheid collaborator, saying that, while the youth of 1976 were protesting, Ramaphosa was “wining and dining” with “white monopoly capital”. 

This is not the first time Malema has questioned Ramaphosa’s struggle credentials. 

“We have to save South Africans from apartheid collaborators,” Malema said. 

He further used his address to condemn the brutal incidents of femicide in South Africa.