Malema’s shock at seeing dead friend’s bullet-riddled car

EFF leader Julius Malema has told how shocked he was as he inspected the bullet-riddled vehicle his friend and former comrade‚ Sindiso Magaqa‚ was driving when he was ambushed two months ago.

Malema was ANCYL leader and Magaqa secretary-general in 2012 when the organisation was disbanded‚ and the two remained close friends despite belonging to different parties.

Magaqa and two fellow ANC councillors from the Umzimkhulu Municipality – who are both still in hospital – were attacked in the southern KwaZulu-Natal town on July 13 as they got out of the car to go to a shop.

He was recovering in hospital, but died a week ago after complaining of stomach pains.

On Friday‚ Malema was shown the vehicle Magaqa and his colleagues were in during the ambush.

He said that seeing the bullet-riddled Mercedes-Benz SUV left him wondering how his friend initially survived the attack.

“It was so scary. The intention was to kill him instantly‚” Malema said after he visited the Magaqa family home in Umzimkhulu.

“They [police] found 65 cartridges there. How do you open fire with 65 bullets and you still don’t kill a single person?

“This is what confirmed that the assassins are not well-trained people.

“They are given a basic thing of operating a rifle‚ but they don’t know how to use it.

“It is not professionals. It’s reckless murderers who are given R5 000 each to execute a mission on behalf of petty politicians.”

Malema also admitted that the volatile conditions in Umzimkhulu meant he might not be able to attend this week’s funeral.

The funeral was pushed back a week after Magaqa’s mother collapsed and had to be taken to hospital.

“The intention has always been to go‚ but an assessment is being made to check if we will not be compromised. If conditions permit‚ I will go,” Malema said.

“It would be reckless to go in without taking some security measures.”

But if he did go‚ all he wanted to do would be to carry the coffin.

“The funeral is an ANC thing; he died an ANC member‚ an ANC councillor. But we are human beings and he was a brother,” Malema said.

“If I can carry his coffin, I will know that I picked up the spear of economic freedom for our people.”