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In a tweet on Sunday, EFF leader Julius Malema reviewed a lengthy accusation that President Cyril Ramaphosa was “deployed” to become president by “investors,” and seemed to suggest that people who violate the blockade regulations will find that there will be a high price to pay, in fact to “learn a lesson for life”.
South Africans, like many other citizens around the world, have been frustrated by more than five weeks of living indoors, with numerous scenes over the long weekend capturing crowds of people walking, going to shops and joining long lines of food with little social distance.
The EFF has been very outspoken about the alleged need to keep strong blocking restrictions in place in the apparent hope that the virus can be kept at bay for months or years.
However, the government has said that it is unlikely that it is possible in the medium to long term to avoid the peak of the infection rate.
The party has joined many in condemning people for being “willing to disobey blockade regulations.”
In a reasonably threatening comment, Malema said: “Let them try, Gareth Cliff must speed up the process so they can learn a life-long lesson very quickly.”
Investors are not happy with their employee. @CyrilRamaphosa, and are willing to disobey blocking regulations. Let them try, Gareth Cliff must speed up the process so they can learn a life lesson very quickly.
– Julius Seal Malema (@Julius_S_Malema) May 3, 2020
Malema was referring to an open letter written by online radio presenter Gareth Cliff, who has interviewed Malema in his studies in the past.
Cliff’s letter and associated voice note have gone viral, evidently capturing the feelings of many people. In it he said: “Our patience and emotional state are at the razor’s edge. We are losing hope. “
He warned that “the regulations not only have to make sense, they must also have significant public acceptance; otherwise, people will break them, big and small. South Africans mostly stick to it, but when you promise something and then you break it, it makes us feel that we should break your regulations in return. ”
He added: “Many of us are no longer afraid of the virus. It is our health and we will take risks, thank you. We fear the damage that its confinement is causing in the economy, in the lives and livelihoods of people.
“I see fewer and fewer explanations from ministers and more and more capricious, some would say that regulation is spiteful.”
Despite not being a smoker, he said the continued ban on tobacco products would simply create unnecessary anger.
“There are more of us than police and soldiers, so if you bother enough people, things get very difficult. I’m sure those advisers in the security group have mentioned that they can’t shoot us all or put us all in jail. “
Cliff ended menacingly with a biblical reference: “When Moses told Pharaoh to let his people go, Pharaoh did not listen and there were plagues. We all know what that story was like for Pharaoh. He must start letting our people go, Mister President , or this plague will be the least of our worries. Even Moses could tell you that.
(Compiled by Charles Cilliers)
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