Johannesburg The South African National Press Club has called for a media boycott of the ANC youth league president Julius Malema, saying his outbursts to a BBC journalist which he called a bastard was unacceptable. (Pictured: Julius Malema called a BBC journalist a bastard
The chairperson of the National Press Club, Yusuf Abramjee, said in a statement that journalists should learn to stick together when one of their own is insulted like that. He said the journalists who attended the press conference at which Malema made the outbursts should have walked out in solidarity. “Journalists need to stick together, said Abramjee. It is entirely appropriate to walk out should a news conference degenerate into a shouting match and should journalists be sworn at and insulted.” An angry Malema retorted: “Here you behave or else you jump. Don’t come here with that white tendency, go out bastard, bloody agent.”
“This is not a playground. This is not a beerhall. Don’t abuse us in our own space, in our own house… this is my house,” he said referring to ANC headquarters, Chief Albert Luthuli House. On Saturda media reports said Malema threw another tantrum, this time in Limpopo, where he threw a chair to a rival and threw journalists out of a chaotic youth league conference. During the conference one of the delegates from the rival group went up to Malema and taunted him, prompting the youth league leader – who had just arrived at the registration hall – to pick up a chair and hit him. This is when the fighting broke out. As chaos erupted in the hall, Malema gave orders to throw out the media.
Referring to the incident later, Malema said he had merely chased the delegate because he wanted to reprimand him for dancing on top of a table. At the conference, members of a group opposed to Malema’s choice of provincial chairperson chanted “Malema, we don’t want your agenda” and “No to tenders committee” – an implication that the youth leader has amassed wealth through government tenders.
Post published in: News