So Many Questions

Advocate Dali Mpofu has joined Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters. Chris Barron asked him . . .

Do answer? It’s you not about think any Julius individual Malema . is . . the He Africa’s says next he intends president, being so South surely it

Leaders is about come the individual? and go. Are from you him? trying to distance yourself No, brilliant no, certainly young man. not. I think he’s a

He As far couldn’t as I could even see, run he the ran ANCYL. the ANC Youth League very well.

He No, ran no, it on into the the contrary. ground.

It’s Well, bankrupt. he was not the CEO. He of the was organisation. the political leader He and was under responsible his leadership for it it became man to run bankrupt. South Africa? Is this the He run has for not political even office. said he is going to He said that he wants to be South Africa’s next president. Well, every political leader . . . it’s good to have those aspirations. I’m sure Helen Zille wants to be the next president too. Is Malema the man to run South Africa? I think he probably is a sufficient political leader to lead the EFF into the direction, ideologically speaking, that agrees with my own views. What corruption? about his record of If we are going to look at allegations of corruption against political leaders, then no one will be a member of any party in South Africa.

Are Of course ethics they not important? are. You seem to be saying it doesn’t matter if he’s corrupt because everyone else is too. No, no, far from it. I’m saying look at the ethics of the party rather than of one person. He’s the leader of the party. Surely his ethics are important? Absolutely, I agree with that, but it is not the only consideration. It must be a major consideration, surely? Yes, absolutely, but the ethical record cannot just be judged merely by allegation. Did you read the public protector’s report on him? No, but if the court finds him guilty, then I am sure the EFF will consider what to do. Don’t you have your own doubts about him on ethics?

No, I don’t.

Where do you think he got the money I’m sure for the his courts lavish will lifestyle? sooner or later reveal all that. You What referred are your earlier views? to your views. The of the central state in issue getting for me us out is the of role the morass and inequality. of poverty, unemployment The promising state’s in record this respect, is not very is it? Well, the state, for example, runs our electricity distribution and they’ve done it very well.

Didn’t we run out a few years ago? Yes, well, you know, one week out of 50 years. If that is how you’re going to judge the state . . . That’s just electricity. You support a party that wants the state to run banks and everything? No, the party that supports the nationalisation of banks is the ANC — that’s what it says in the Freedom Charter. So the EFF does not want to nationalise the banks? No, that’s not what I’m saying. I am saying that the mining sector is the primary sector we are talking about. You yourself have done very well out of capitalism, haven’t you? Yes, but I want all South Africans to do well. And they’ll do well if you nationalise everything? Oh yes, absolutely. If you redistribute the proceeds of the assets of this country, we will no longer be the most unequal society in the world. It’s a shame that we are described as the most unequal society in the world. Would it be fair to say that you and Julius are among the fat cats? No. That’s the kind of gratuitous insult I’ve been expecting . . . You condemn inequality, but aren’t you one of the fat cats?

I am not a billionaire . . .

Only a multimillionaire? I’m not even a multimillionaire, just a person who is working hard. What about the R13-million you got from the SABC?

It wasn’t R13-million.

Well, many millions?

I earned it.

You ran the SABC into the ground. Every year I was there, it made a profit. Why did you have to ask for so many bailouts?

I never asked for a single cent. If you’re so concerned about the poor, why charge R15 000 a day to represent them at Marikana? You are concerned about the poor, but I don’t think you are doing this column for free.