How Desmond Tutu’s Daughter Lost Her Job After Marrying A Woman

As a child of Desmond Tutu, a Christian leader who bravely opposed apartheid in South Africa, Rev. Mpho Tutu Van Furth knows a thing or two about how to stand up for what you believe in.

When Tutu van Furth decided to get married to her partner, Marceline van Furth, an atheist professor from Amsterdam, she knew that her job as a priest of the South African Anglican church would be in jeopardy. Although same-sex marriage is legal in South Africa, the Anglican church in the country insists that marriage is a union between a man and a woman. Marrying her partner meant being forced out of the priesthood, but for Tutu van Furth, the choice was clear.

“Always choose love,” the newlywed told The Guardian. “Everything else will fall into place somehow. When in doubt just do the most loving thing.”

Since making that decision, Tutu van Furth and her bride have declared their love for each other twice — during a small civil wedding in the Netherlands last December and during a family celebration near Cape Town in May.

According to the BBC, when Tutu van Furth heard that her diocese had decided to withdraw her license, she offered to return it herself, saying it was “slightly more dignified.” She’s still a priest in the United States-based Episcopal Church, where she was ordained in 2003. However, she admitted that relinquishing her South African priesthood made her feel as if a part of her was stripped away.

“It was incredibly sad for me,” she said. “A few years ago I celebrated the Eucharist with my father… and now to be in a position that I cannot serve at the alter with him… I was surprised by how much it hurt.”

Tutu van Furth said that her father and her family have been supportive of her relationship. Since the Anglican church doesn’t permit its priests to bless or conduct same-sex weddings, Tutu gave a “father’s blessing” at his daughter’s marriage, instead.

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA MARCH 12 (SOUTH AFRICA OUT): The daughter of Archbishop Emeritus Tutu, Reverend Mpho Tutu and her wife, Professor Marceline Furth embrace during an interview on March 12, 2016 at their home in Cape Town, South Africa. The two celebrated their union in an intimate wedding ceremony. (Photo by Lerato Maduna/Foto24/Gallo Images/ Getty Images) — CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA: The daughter of Archbishop Emeritus Tutu, Reverend Mpho Tutu and her wife, Professor Marceline Furth embrace during an interview on March 12, 2016 at their home in Cape Town, South Africa. The two celebrated their union in an intimate wedding ceremony. (Photo by Lerato Maduna/Foto24/Gallo Images/ Getty Images)

Tutu’s stance on same-sex marriage has been clear for years. In 2013, the Nobel peace laureate made headlines by stating that he’d rather go to hell than to a “homophobic heaven.”

“I would not worship a God who is homophobic and that is how deeply I feel about this,” the retired archbishop said during the launch of a UN-backed campaign for LGBT rights in South Africa. “I am as passionate about this campaign as I ever was about apartheid. For me, it is at the same level.”

Globally, the Anglican Communion is divided over the issue of same-sex marriage. In January, its archbishops imposed sanctions on the American branch of its organization, the Episcopal Church, for deciding to allow clergy to perform same-sex marriages.

Tutu van Furth hopes that her marriage will start a conversation within the South African Anglican church about how to serve the LGBTQ people who are sitting in its pews and speaking from its pulpits.

For inspiration, she turns to her dad:

“My dad has a real gift for being on the right side of an issue, not from the point of the argument of right and wrong, but from the point of caring for the people on the margins. Who is the least powerful one in this configuration? What is the most loving thing in any situation? That generally leads him in the right direction.”

South Africa’s EFF MPs expelled for heckling Jacob Zuma

A brawl broke out in the South African parliament on Tuesday as security officers were ordered to forcibly remove opposition MPs. Several punches were thrown as the left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) were expelled after trying to stop President Jacob Zuma speaking. In March a court ruled Mr Zuma violated the constitution by failing to pay back public money used on his mansion. It is the second brawl in parliament this month.

Security guards were ordered by the speaker to eject the people who were being disruptive. Guards surrounded the EFF MPs who were dressed in their trademark red boiler suits. Objects, including bottles of water and a hard hat, were thrown as the guards tried to wrestle the MPs out of the chamber.

The EFF has denounced Mr Zuma as an “illegitimate” ruler who should step down. South Africa’s highest court, the Constitutional Court, ruled that Mr Zuma had violated the constitution when he failed to repay government money used to upgrade his private home in the rural area of Nkandla.

About 20 EFF members, who were wrestled from their seats by plain-clothed guards on Tuesday, refused to let Zuma speak and shouted down Baleka Mbete, the speaker of the National Assembly. The EFF argued that Zuma was not fit to address the house after recent court decisions against the president before adding that they would repeat their disruptive actions until he resigned.

In a second case, at the end of April, a court said that Mr Zuma should be charged with corruption. The case is related to a multi-billion dollar arms deal the government negotiated in 1999. Mr Zuma denies any wrongdoing, and says he will continue to “shepherd” the nation. His term is due to end in 2019. In his first appearance after this court ruling at the beginning of May, a brawl also broke out as EFF members were evicted for heckling.

Why Does Thuli Madonsela, South Africa’s Public Prosecutor, Fear for Her Life?

Few women command the same public respect in South Africa as Thuli Madonsela.

Madonsela, 53, holds the post of public protector in South Africa , an independent watchdog tasked with investigating government corruption and holding the most powerful people to account. South African President Jacob Zuma appointed Madonsela to the role in 2009 for a seven-year term, due to conclude in October.

Zuma may well regret that appointment. Madonsela’s highest-profile case has been the investigation of Zuma’s misuse of state funds in improving his sprawling residence at Nkandla, in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province. She authored a 2014 report titled Secure in Comfort , numbering more than 400 pages, concluding that the president had “benefited unduly” from the upgrades—which included a swimming pool and amphitheater and totaled an estimated 246 million rand (worth $23 million at the time)—and should be made to repay funds spent on non-essential security upgrades.

Prior to the 2014 report’s release—which came less than two months ahead of a general election that Zuma won convincingly—South African police reportedly threatened to arrest Madonsela, arguing that the report would constitute a breach of the president’s security. During the two years following its publication, Madonsela was ignored or insulted by the ruling African National Congress (ANC). Deputy defense minister Kebby Maphatsoe accused her of being an agent of the CIA , while former national police commissioner and ANC national executive committee member Bheki Cele said she must “stop acting like she is God.”

Madonsela was finally vindicated in March, however, when the country’s highest court ruled that Zuma had failed to uphold the constitution by ignoring Madonsela’s report. In its ruling, the Constitutional Court praised Madonsela and her office as “an embodiment of a biblical David” and Madonsela herself welcomed the judgement as having “restored hope in the constitutional dream.”

Madonsela’s public advocacy against corruption has earned her enemies, however, as she claimed to have been notified of a bounty against her life. The public protector told South Africa’s Sunday Times that she received a text message on April 1 from a trusted informant, telling her that a gang leader in the Western Cape region had been contracted to have her assassinated. Madonsela said she is “traumatized” by the plot, which she believes to be authentic, and has stopped jogging in the mornings as a security precaution. The anonymous informant also confirmed that 740,000 rand ($49,000) had changed hands for the hit, which was reportedly planned for May and would be made to look like a car accident.

The opposition Democratic Alliance party, led by Mmusi Maimane, has called on the South African Police Service to fully investigate the allegations, saying that public officials like Madonsela cannot “have threats made on their lives for acting in a manner that is too independent in an effort to root out government corruption.” The ANC is yet to comment publicly and was not immediately available when contacted by Newsweek . There is no evidence of a link between the Nkandla investigation and the alleged death threats against Madonsela, who has said she does not know the identity of those threatening her.

The incident highlights the costs that come with speaking out against corruption in a violent and sometimes unstable society like South Africa. It is likely that whoever replaces Madonsela come October will take on her mantle with more than a hint of trepidation.

South Africa protesters torch schools in Limpopo province

South Africa has a long history of street protests

BBC | Protesters have burnt 13 schools in two areas in South Africa’s northern Limpopo province in a violent dispute over district boundaries, police say. Government officials appealed for an end to the violence, saying it affected the education of hundreds of children. Protesters say moves to include their neighbourhoods into a new municipality would delay efforts to get them better housing and water.

South Africa is due to hold key local government elections in August. Opposition parties hope to make gains at the polls, arguing that the governing African National Congress (ANC) has failed to improve basic services during its 22-year rule.

The ANC disputes this, saying most people have a far better standard of living since it took power at the end of minority rule in 1994.

Eight of the 13 schools were torched overnight, bringing to 13 the number of schools targeted since Monday, reports the BBC’s Pumza Fihlani from the main city Johannesburg.

The government says communities will be worse off by destroying buildings

On Friday, protesters failed in a court bid to prevent the inclusion of the mainly poor Vuwani and Livubu areas into a new district authority. The government says the plan is vital to developing the two communities.

South Africa has a history of violent demonstrations, going back to the days when people protested minority rule and it seems that this attitude still remains, our correspondent says.

People are often so frustrated about the lack of basic services like electricity and water that they resort to vandalism, targeting schools, libraries and even clinics, she adds. The government has often criticised the violence, saying it would leave communities worse off. Limpopo is one of South Africa’s poorest provinces, where the ANC has won previous elections by an overwhelming majority. The main opposition parties, the Democratic Alliance and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), hope to weaken the ANC’s hold in the province in the August elections.

South Africa: Julius Malema vows to seize white-owned land

Malema, clad in the EFF's signature red overalls and beret, made many promises from free land, water and electricity for the poor to flushing toilets in all homes as he campaigned ahead of municipal elections in August. — Malema, clad in the EFF’s signature red overalls and beret, made many promises from free land, water and electricity for the poor to flushing toilets in all homes as he campaigned ahead of municipal elections in August.

The leader of South Africa’s opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party has launched his party’s campaign for the upcoming local elections, promising to rescue citizens from poverty, unemployment and corrupt government.

Around 40,000 people turned up at Orlando Stadium in Soweto on Saturday displaying massive support for fiery EFF leader Julius Malema’s promises to seize white-owned land without compensation and nationalise the banks.

The huge turnout was a shot across the bows of the ANC, which failed to fill a similar stadium during the launch of its own manifesto in the coastal city of East London two weeks ago.

“We are not chasing the whites away. We are saying you have too much land. We want you here in South Africa, but 80 percent of the land belongs to us,” Malema told the crowd.

The white minority still holds the vast majority of farmland as well as a disproportionate share of the country’s wealth.

The EFF is capitalising on black discontent over the perceived lack of change under the ANC government since the end of apartheid 22 years ago.

Campaign promises

Malema, clad in the EFF’s signature red overalls and beret, made many promises from free land, water and electricity for the poor to flushing toilets in all homes as he campaigned ahead of municipal elections in August.

“We want black communities to be like white communities,” he told the enthusiastic crowd.

The ANC, which has ruled since its iconic leader Nelson Mandela took power in 1994, showed in 2014 national elections that it still had overwhelming support.

However, it has been hard hit by a series of scandals involving President Jacob Zuma and some commentators predict it could lose a couple of major municipalities in the upcoming vote.

The EFF was founded 2013 by Malema after he was thrown out as the leader of the ANC’s youth wing.

In national elections less than a year later it won more than a million votes, taking 25 seats in parliament and becoming the third largest party behind the centrist Democratic Alliance, which holds 89 seats.

This will be the first time the EFF has contested local elections, where issues such as housing, service delivery, poverty and unemployment rank high on voters’ lists of complaints.

South African court rules Zuma must face corruption charges

By Amogelang Mbatha and Paul Vecchiatto | Bloomberg

South African court ruled that the decision by prosecutors to drop a corruption case against President Jacob Zuma seven years ago was irrational and should be set aside, opening the way for the 783 charges against him to be reinstated.

Then acting National Director of Public Prosecutions Mokotedi Mpshe was under pressure and made an “irrational decision” to dismiss the charges in April 2009, ignoring the importance of his oath of office to act independently and without fear or favor, Judge Aubrey Ledwaba said at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Friday, citing the ruling by a full bench of judges. Zuma should face the charges in the indictment, he said.

“It’s not the sort of decision that’s going to be easy to overturn on appeal, because it seems to me, it is so well-reasoned,” James Grant, an attorney at the South African High Court, said by phone from Johannesburg. “It’s a very powerful judgment because its a unanimous decision by three judges saying that abuse of process is not something that the prosecution service may rely on.”

The ruling intensifies pressure on the governing African National Congress, which is fighting off increased calls from opposition parities, churches and civil-rights organizations to dismiss Zuma as the country prepares for local government elections on Aug. 3. The 74-year-old leader has been dogged by scandals even before he took office and now has to face an economy growing at the slowest pace since the 2009 recession and the risk of credit downgrade to junk.

“The ANC’s woes continue in the run up to the local government elections and they will have an even harder time managing their image after having decided not to recall him,” University of the Western Cape Head of Political Studies Cherrel Africa said by phone from Cape Town.

Last month, South Africa’s top court found that Zuma, had “failed to uphold, defend and respect the constitution” over his handling of a graft ombudsman report into security upgrades at his private rural residence, which found his family had unduly benefited from the improvements. That ruling followed in the wake of allegations that his friends, the Gupta family, offered senior Cabinet positions to members of the ANC. The Guptas have denied any wrongdoing and Zuma has referred questions to them, saying only he has the authority to appoint ministers.

Prosecutors had spent eight years investigating allegations that Zuma took 4.07 million rand ($287,000) in bribes from arms dealers, and had brought charges of fraud, corruption and racketeering against him. Mpshe decided to drop the case on grounds that taped phone calls indicated the chief prosecutor was using the case against Zuma to frustrate his efforts to win control of the ANC from Thabo Mbeki. Zuma, who was elected ANC president in 2007, became president of South Africa in May 2009 and won a second and final term in 2014.

The Democratic Alliance, the country’s largest opposition party, has been fighting ever since to have the charges reinstated.

“This finding by the court is an overwhelming victory for the rule of law,” DA leader Mmusi Maimane said in an e-mailed statement. “The National Prosecuting Authority must now immediately continue with the 783 charges of corruption so that President Zuma can finally have his day in court.”

The National Prosecuting Authority will study the judgment before deciding what action to take, spokesman Luvuyo Mfaku said by phone. Zuma has noted the decision and “will give consideration to the judgment and its consequences and the remedies available in terms of our law,” the presidency said in an e-mailed statement.

“The court did not deal with the merits of any allegations against President Zuma nor did it make any finding declaring guilt on any matter,” the ANC said. “Today’s judgment was solely a judicial review of an administrative action taken by the NPA as allowed for in our law. This matter has dragged on for close to a decade and the ANC is pleased therefore that it now appears closer to resolution.”

Criticism of Zuma’s government has intensified since December, when his decision to replace his respected finance minister, Nhlanhla Nene, with a little-known lawmaker sparked a selloff of the rand and the nation’s bonds. A special South African police unit, known as the Hawks, is investigating corruption allegations against the Gupta family, who are in business with Zuma’s son, and probing whether the Guptas have any influence on government business.

“President Zuma has jokingly said that he looks forward to his day in court to answer those charges. Well now that day is getting closer,” Bantu Holomisa, leader of minor opposition party, the United Democratic Movement, said by phone from Mthatha. “The ANC will have to seriously consider what it will mean to the country or to their party to have a sitting president in court answering charges and thereby taking his attention away from running the country.”

Mall of Africa opens in South Africa as economic outlook sours

Thousand of shoppers scrambling to through the official opening of the “Mall of Africa” in Midrand, South Africa. With 131,000 square metres of retail space, the “Mall of Africa” is the largest African mall ever to have been built in one phase, according to developers. Image by: MOELETSI MABE

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Thousands of shoppers queued on Thursday at the opening of one of the largest malls in South Africa, set in middle-class suburbia between Johannesburg and Pretoria.

The Mall of Africa will house over 300 shops, including global brands such as Inditex’s Zara, Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), Cotton On and Starbucks. They want to attract the rising number of young consumers in Africa’s most developed economy which has thrived on demand for commodities.

But the opening comes as the outlook for the economy worsens with rising interest rates and prices putting a squeeze on spending while demand for exports such as gold and other metals is depressed. Political uncertainty has also unsettled the rand currency, making imports more expensive and investors nervous.

Retail sales have stayed robust, however, comfortably beating expectations in February and retailers at the mall were in an optimistic mood.

“We see a lot of potential in South African and in Africa… this is our third flagship store that we have opened in a matter of six or seven months,” said Amelia-May Woudstra, the public relations country manager for H&M South Africa. “We will be opening three more stores towards the end of the year.”

Shiny malls have sprung up throughout South Africa, creating thousands of jobs. But they come amid a backdrop of rising debt levels. Nearly half of all credit-active South Africans, or 9.9 million people are overindebted, according to debt counselling firm Debt Rescue, and the number will swell as interest rates and inflation rise while the economy slows. Retail sales grew by 4.1 percent year-on-year in February, but are expected to slow.

The Treasury expects the economy to grow by 0.9 percent this year, down from 1.3 percent in 2015 and the central bank is expected to raise interest rates further to rein in inflation that has been driven higher by wage hikes, a depreciating rand and surging food prices after the worst drought in decades.

The bank has raised benchmark lending rates by 200 basis points in the last two years and analysts see rates rising even further by year end from 7 percent now.

“Interest rate hikes and slower salary increases will limit the employee’s ability to spend. This is bad news for large item sales like cars and furniture. It is likely that retailers will struggle for real growth in the next few months,” said Mike Schüssler, chief economist at Economists.co.za.

South African shoppers flocked to the opening Thursday of one of Africa's largest malls outside Johannesburg, despite rising unemployment is rising and slowing economic growth. — South African shoppers flocked to the opening Thursday of one of Africa’s largest malls outside Johannesburg, despite rising unemployment is rising and slowing economic growth.

OVERBUILDING

This could be bad news for malls such as Mall of Africa, set in the sprawling Midrand suburb housing many of South Africa’s newly middle-class black consumers around 20 km (12 miles) away from its nearest upmarket rival.

“The good malls will do well but there is a risk that there has been a little bit of over building in South Africa. There is a lot of property retail space in South Africa. Is there really another mall that size required in South Africa? I am not sure,” Portfolio manager at Gryphon Asset Management Reuben Beelders.

But with more mature markets slowing, retailers are on the hunt for anywhere offering a faster return.

Zara opened its first store in South Africa in 2011, followed by Australian no-frills chain Cotton On, Britain’s Top Shop and Forever 21 and more recently H&M. Cotton On said on Thursday South Africa was the group’s fastest growing market globally and aims to double its business in the country over the next three years to 350 stores. “Our South African operations have reported double-digit growth every month since opening our first store here in 2011. The region a key contributor to reaching our overall growth target of 20 percent year on year,” said Cotton On Group South Africa Country Manager Johan van Wyk.

Lured by opening-day bargains for their favourite global brands, shoppers in the new mall showed no sign of concern.

“It seems like this mall is going to be a success even though things aren’t going so well,” said Christa Noi, 25, an office manager in Johannesburg.

On a bus, South Africans claim back land taken under apartheid

In this file April 24, 2012 photo, a worker walks between rows of vegetables at a farm in Eikenhof, south of Johannesburg. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

LONDON, (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – South Africans whose land was confiscated under racist laws in the apartheid era have lodged more than 27,000 legal claims at “mobile land claims offices” housed in buses and four-wheel-drive trucks, a land rights commission said.

Six specially adapted vehicles have travelled between remote rural communities since April 2015, reaching more than 100,000 households, according to the Commission on the Restitution of Land Rights, which operates them.

They are part of an initiative to contact victims of racially motivated land dispossession and help them claim back their land.

Under the previous Union and apartheid white-minority governments, segregationist laws severely restricted the right of black South Africans to own land and forced millions onto reservations.

Alfred Msibi, 97, and Maria Sibisi, 79, from northeastern Mpumalanga Province, told Commission officials they hoped the use of mobile offices would speed up access to compensation for their historical claims.

“We have had no peace since the day we were dispossessed of our ancestral land,” a Commission statement quoted them as saying.

The Restitution of Land Rights Bill, aimed at restoring land to those who had it taken from them during the apartheid era, was among the first laws passed by the country’s first democratic government in November 1994.

But many people failed to claim their land in the initial period from 1995 to 1998, and President Jacob Zuma re-opened their right to make claims when he signed the Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Act on June 30, 2014.

Nomfundo Ntloko-Gobodo, Chief Land Claims Commissioner, said the decision was made to re-open claims because many families had not been aware that they qualified for the process, the commission statement said.

It quoted him as saying he was confident the mobile offices would enable farmers to reclaim their land by the 2019 deadline.

LAND CLAIM VEHICLES ON TOUR

The vehicles contain electronic equipment to register claims on site, and have toured sparsely populated areas of northeastern Limpopo province and towns in desert regions of Northern Cape province.

The initiative aimed to contact rural people who could not reach the 14 fixed-location offices, which are mostly in urban centres.

Staff are registering claims for South Africans who were dispossessed of land after June 19, 1913 – when the notorious “Natives Land Act” came into force. The Act prevented black South Africans from owning land outside designated reservations which amounted to just 7 percent of agricultural land, though black South Africans formed 67 percent of the population.

Under the Act and subsequent legislation, more than 3 million people were forcibly relocated to black townships and “Bantustan” homelands.

Land remains a highly emotive issue in South Africa, where 300 years of colonial rule and white-minority government left the vast majority of farmland in the hands of a tiny, mainly white, minority.

The 1996 constitution places a duty on the government to ensure equitable land distribution and address the consequences of the 1913 Act.

In 1996, two years after the end of apartheid, 90 percent of all agricultural land was owned or leased by just 60,000 white commercial farmers, according to government figures.

The National Development Plan set a target of transferring 20 percent of agricultural land to black South Africans by 2030. Between 1994 and 2014, the state handed 7.5 million hectares to black farmers, 46 percent of this target, according to official figures.

(Reporting by Matthew Ponsford, editing by Tim Pearce. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, traficking, property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)

S.Africa’s ANC opens treason case against leftist leader Malema

Cape Town (AFP) – South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) has brought a case of treason against opposition leader Julius Malema after he threatened a violent overthrow of the government, the party’s spokesman said Monday.

The move follows an interview Malema gave to Al-Jazeera television Sunday in which he said that if the government used violence to suppress protest “we will remove this government through the barrel of a gun”.

ANC national spokesperson Zizi Kodwa announced on Twitter that the party had gone to police to lay a charge of treason against Malema, leader of the radical Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).

“The ANC has just opened a case of high treason against EFF and its leader Julius Malema in his personal capacity with Hillbrow police station,” Kodwa confirmed to News24.

Earlier, the ANC released a statement saying Malema’s remarks “are a call to violence, inflammatory, treasonable and seditious”.

In the interview, Malema said: “We will run out of patience very soon and we will remove this government through a barrel of a gun”.

The EFF has been demanding the ouster of President Jacob Zuma for several months, accusing him of corruption.

EFF deputies regularly disrupt parliamentary sessions, sometimes shouting anti-Zuma slogans.

Last year, EFF MPs were expelled from the assembly by security guards after fights broke out.

“We are a very peaceful organisation, we fight our battles through peaceful means, through the courts, through parliament, through mass mobilisation, we do that peacefully,” Malema told Al-Jazeera.

“But at times the government has attempted to respond to such with violence, they beat us up in parliament… They sent soldiers to places like Alexandra (township) where people are protesting.”

The EFF leader, 35, was expelled from the ruling ANC in 2012 when he was head of the party’s youth wing.

He founded the radical leftist EFF a year later which entered parliament with 25 deputies after May 2014 elections, becoming the third largest party.

South Africa’s Julius Malema warns Zuma government

1067c214a6c6c28ff0c9e54dde61098f — Malema is the commander-in-chief of the Economic Freedom Fighters, an opposition party he founded in 2013 after being expelled from the ANC, where he had served as president of the Youth League.

South African politician Julius Malema says the opposition “will run out of patience very soon and we will remove this government through the barrel of a gun” if the ruling African National Congress (ANC) continues to respond violently to peaceful protests.

Malema is the commander-in-chief of the Economic Freedom Fighters, an opposition party he founded in 2013 after being expelled from the ANC, where he had served as president of the Youth League.

The exchange, in Sunday’s episode of Talk To Al Jazeera, began when Jonah Hull asked Malema how far he was willing to go in his “war” against President Jacob Zuma and reminded him of his 2014 threat to make the entire Gauteng province ungovernable.

“We have the capability to mobilise our people and fight physically,” said Malema.

“That’s not befitting of a government in waiting, is it?” Hull asked.

“We know for a fact that Gauteng ANC rigged elections here,” replied Malema.

“We know for a fact that they lost Johannesburg and they lost Gauteng. But we still accepted it. But they must know that we are not going to do that this year. We are not going to accept.

“Part of the revolutionary duty is to fight and we are not ashamed if the need arises for us to take up arms and fight. We will fight. This regime must respond peacefully to our demands and must respond constitutionally to our demands.

“And if they are going to respond violently – like they did in the township of Alexandra, just outside Johannesburg, when people said these results do not reflect the outcome of our votes, they sent the army to go and intimidate our people. We are not going to stand back. Zuma is not going to use the army to intimidate us. We are not scared of the army. We are not scared to fight. We will fight.”

Hull asked Malema to clarify this: “When you say you are willing to take up arms, that’s what you mean?”

“Literally,” Malema said.

“Against the government?” Hull asked.

“Yeah, literally. I mean it literally. We are not scared. We are not going to have a government that disrespects us,” Malema said

“We are a very peaceful organisation and we fight our battles through peaceful means, through the courts, through parliament, through mass moblisation.

“We do that peacefully. But at times, government gets tempted to respond to such with violence. They beat us up in parliament and they send soliders to places like Alexandra where people are protesting. We will run out of patience very soon and we will remove this government through the barrel of a gun.”

Earlier, Malema had denied that Zuma was his primary concern.

“We are not waged in a war against Zuma and the ANC. We are waging a war against white monopoly capital. Zuma is not our enemy. The ANC is not our enemy. They are standing in our way to crushing white monopoly capital, which has stolen our land, which controls the wealth of our country. “As we are in the process of crushing the white monopoly capital, there will be some of those irritations that we have to deal with. Zuma represents such an irritation; the ANC represents such an irritation.”

South Africa is holding municipal elections in August.

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