JUJU S EFFING LIE

Pensioner waits years for promised house

JULIUS Malema has been accused of being a big fat liar after allegedly making empty promises to a desperate family in Limpopo and then pulling a disappearing act.

The ANC Youth League (ANCYL) is hopping mad, saying it has been cleaning up Juju’s mess ever since he was fired as its head.

At the centre of the stink is a pensioner from Mmakgatla village in Limpopo. Jan Marema, 80, said his wife and kids left him because of Malema’s unfulfilled promise to build them a house four years ago,

“but he had the gall to build one for someone else in KZN just to grab media headlines”.

Marema made these claims a few days after Malema and his party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), donated a new house to a resident of Nkandla, President Jacob Zuma’s home village in KwaZulu-Natal.

After seeing images of Malema and his “fighters” bursting through a hostile stone-throwing crowd to make final touches to the house before handing the keys to the lucky recipient, Marema started asking questions.

“My mud house was destroyed by rain about three or four years ago,” Marema said.

“Thereafter, Malema and his friends came and promised to build me a house and a toilet. They started building, but then disappeared before the structure got far. I still don’t have a toilet and have to rely on neighbours to answer to the call of nature.

“I have never heard from him since, and was shocked to see that he went all the way to Natal to give someone else a house while he still has to finish building the one he promised me.

“My wife and three children have left me because I cannot provide shelter for them. That makes me feel inadequate … like I am not a real man who can look after his family.”

Malema, who was dismissed as ANCYL president in 2012, referred questions to the ANC, saying it was the party, and not him in his personal capacity, that made the promise.

“I am just a poor orphan who happened to be the ANC Youth League ’ s president at the time. Even the KZN house was not donated by me, it was work done by the EFF,” Malema said.

ANCYL spokesman Dr Bandile Masuku would hear none of that and, instead, lashed out at Malema and his leaders at the time.

“We have been dealing with, and continue to deal with, a lot of mismanagement and indecisions made by the previous leadership. To them, it was all about media stunts and not genuinely helping deserving citizens of this country. “We will send a team from our [Sekhukhune] regional leadership to visit the family and gather all facts. We are not promising anything, but will see how we can help the family where possible,” he said.

The frail-looking old man said his misery was compounded by the Sekhukhune district municipality, which also made empty promises.

“At first, they gave me a tent and later erected a small one-roomed shack for me. Thereafter, they disappeared.

“They started building me an RDP house last year next to Malema’s

I have never heard from him since, and was shocked to see that he went all the wat to Natal to give someone else a house while he still has to finish me

unfinished one, but the contractors later stopped work, saying the municipality was not paying them.

“I really feel like the world is coming down on me,” said a depressed Marema.

The octogenarian said his old-age state pension can barely cover his monthly expenses because he has no savings.

He worked as a herder for the better part of his life and can neither read nor write.

Municipal spokesman Willie Mosoma could not be reached for comment at the time of going to print.

!" # $ %&& # $ ' " $ '...