Things got so tense between EFF commander-in-chief Julius Malema and Cope leader Mosiuoa Lekota at Limpopo’s first public hearing into the amendment of section 25 of the Constitution on Wednesday that Lekota, who was seated next to Malema, got up and moved to another seat.
Following claims by Lekota that the process was staged, the two got into a heated exchange that resulted in sections of the crowd in the jam-packed Marble Hall town hall repeatedly chanting “Juju”, as Malema’s followers sometimes refer to him.
After the public hearings ended, Malema told News24 that Lekota believed the entire process was staged because Malema had pointed out people that chairperson Vincent Smith should recognise to make submissions to the Constitutional Review Committee.
“I said to him as a member of Parliament you are allowed to chair, if you think it’s staged, take a mic and choose people yourself because I also do the same thing. When I see people, I say ‘chair, recognise that person’,” Malema said.
“Then he becomes emotional and says ‘don’t talk to me’, then I said ‘no, you are being unreasonable now’. That’s what we were fighting about.”
Malema said Smith was a democratic chairperson who told the committee members that if they saw someone who they felt very strongly must be recognised, then they should bring it to his attention.
‘He’s crying tears’
“There is no one that has staged this process. Everyone has spoken, black and white, male, female, young and old.”
Malema added that Lekota was losing the debate on the land question and had become emotional as a result.
“The people on the ground are saying something different. It’s not our problem if Lekota’s views do not find expression. He must not create his own imagination.”
“He’s crying, he’s crying tears, the people want the section amended, Cope does not have people. Terror (Lekota) is the membership of cope, he is the leader of Cope,” Malema said.
Telling his side of the story, Lekota said that he was unhappy that Malema was telling the chairperson which people to recognise and that those people were given extra time to speak, so he confronted Malema during the sitting.
“He must not be telling the chairperson who to point at and, secondly, how long he can talk. He was specifically urging the chairperson to not stop a man who had already gone over his time because he wanted that man to talk,” Lekota said.
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