Assault illustrates true face of EFF

It was ironic that on Human Rights Day yesterday, EFF leader Julius Malema referred to his comrade, Floyd Shivambu, as being gifted, both intellectually and physically. Shivambu was, after all, the man who physically grabbed journalist Adrian de Kock in the parliamentary precinct earlier this week.

Shivambu has apologised – but in a typically EFF backhanded way, by remarking that he did not consider what he did as an assault. Shivambu has shown himself to be intolerant of the media, as are others in the EFF, including its leader.

A few years ago, Shivambu was ordered to pay damages to a female Muslim editor he accused of being a drunkard. And, when Malema was head of the ANC’s Youth League, he chased a journalist out of a press conference, accusing him of being a “bloody agent”.

Yesterday, Malema appeared to make a joke out of the latest Shivambu incident, remarking: “Comrades let us respect the media. Let them take pictures of us because we are photogenic.”

Ducking and diving are becoming a trademark of the EFF’s rabble-rousing politics. Malema has, on other occasions, accused TV channel eNCA of being “anti-black” and also criticised reports that top white journalists Steven Grootes and Jeremy Maggs will be joining the SABC, focusing his criticism on their skin colour and not their ability or experience.

The assault on De Kock is not an aberration; it is the true face of the EFF, Malema’s comments notwithstanding. His increasingly radicalised stance on land expropriation has seen mounting racist invective and intolerance for criticism.

And, Malema has gained volume recently, in the absence of any contrary message from the ruling ANC, which is now his erstwhile partner on the land issue.

Racist rhetoric has brought this country to the edge of the abyss once before. It must not happen again.