Moloko Moloto
A POSTER of Julius Malema’s nemesis drove the youth leader’s grandmother berserk, leading to a fist fight between gun-toting comrades.
Sarah Malema apparently shouted at ANC members who mounted the poster of Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba near her house in Seshego, outside Polokwane, on Sunday.
She frantically called Malema, who dispatched some of his lieutenants to the scene.
A fist fight ensued between Malema’s lieutenants and supporters of Lehlogonolo Masoga, the former Limpopo ANC Youth League leader who was expelled by Malema last year.
At the centre of it all was this week’s planned visit by Gigaba to Polokwane, the site of a power struggle between Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale – one of Malema’s allies – and Deputy Arts Minister Joe Phaahla.
Gigaba is expected to deliver an OR Tambo memorial lecture at Masoga’s ANC branch in Polokwane tomorrow night.
Malema and Gigaba, a former youth league president, do not see eye to eye.
Gigaba’s spokesman, Makhosini Nkosi, said his boss was unfazed and his plans to speak in Polokwane remained unchanged.
Malema yesterday said his grandmother had phoned him, complaining about people chanting in front of her gate.
He denied sending his associates to search and assault the people who had put Gigaba’s poster on a lamp-post.
But, following Sarah’s complaint, some of Malema’s friends, including Josias “Stalin” Buthane and the league’s provincial secretary, Jacob Lebogo, allegedly went to the homes of people they believed had put up the poster.
Buthane found one of Malema’s rivals, Boy Mamabolo, in a local tavern and allegedly slapped him in the face. Pepe Chere, along with Boikie Tsedu, the secretary of Masoga’s local ANC branch, then arrived on the scene, and Buthane claims Chere pointed a gun at him.
“Even with a gun at my forehead, I fought them,” Buthane boasted.
He later laid a charge against Chere and Tsedu for pointing a firearm.
Seshego police spokesman Warrant Officer Mothemane Malefo confirmed that a case had been opened.
Chere denied pointing a gun at Buthane, and Tsedu refused to comment. Lebogo could not be reached for comment.
The fights could be a prelude to this weekend’s provincial conference, in which Mathale and Phaahla are vying for leadership.