This archive report was first published on 17 December 2019.
South African politician Julius Sello Malema has sparked controversy after slamming Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party members for kneeling in front of him during the party's national conference, held in Johannesburg on December 17, 2019.
According to short video clips posted online, scores of excited delegates marched to the stage in song and knelt before Malema, singing “Julius Malema, there is no-one like you” in Sesotho.
Malema, who was re-elected as the party leader unopposed, expressed his discontent with the delegates' actions, stating that he is not the EFF and that no person should kneel in front of another.
“I am not the EFF, neither am I the Holy Spirit. The EFF is not Malema,” Malema said. “Those people who came here singing and kneeling here in front of me and the officials, and then the papers write that Malema is a cult, people are kneeling before him as if I asked you to kneel before me. I never asked you to kneel before me. Don't kneel before me, I don't want that,” he added.
Malema also took the opportunity to address those who call him a dictator, saying that he is just a hard worker who has worked his way up from a humble background.
“I am not a dictator, I am a hard worker. I come from nothing, born from a domestic worker who suffered from epilepsy and I worked my way up here single-handedly, knowing where I come from. So I do not care who thinks what about me,” Malema said.
