The Secretary General of the ANC, Mr. Fikile Mbalula, refused to apologize to the leader of the EFF, Mr. Julius Malema.
Mbalula told Malema that he will not retract the words he said about the EFF last week, where he accused the group led by Malema of being part of the people who are running a campaign to expel immigrants from the country.
Mbalula said that the EFF was the first to go into restaurants to fight against the employment of immigrants in this sector.
Continuing, he said the EFF protests against the employment of immigrants were violent.
The EFF lawyers then wrote a letter to Mbalula accusing him of tarnishing the party’s name, ordering him to apologize but Mbalula stated that he would not apologise, he said in response to the lawyers’ letter.
Mbalula said that it is not true that his speech tarnishes the name of the EFF and that it is nonsense.
Mbalula said that the things he said when he spoke to the media did not come from the air.
He said the purpose of talking about these things was to encourage people to respect the law.
“Your group has often done things that are against the law. There was a time when your group encouraged people to eat land. This is against the law, but I was just passing by.”
Mbalula said that it is not his fault that the EFF once had campaigns against the employment of immigrants while on the other hand it preaches the gospel of unity in the continent of Africa.
“You will also agree that political parties have the right to announce their goals and the things they believe in. People have the right to check whether political parties are following their goals.”
The EFF had given Mbalula two days to apologise, and ordered him to make an apology video and post it on social media.
Mbalula said that if the EFF continues to file a case, they will meet in court.
“We have been ordered to oppose your request if you continue to file it in court we will oppose it.”