beyers
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http://www.news24.com/Content/South...-04-2010-02-17/Malema_death_threat_shocks_ANC
Johannesburg - The ANC on Thursday expressed its shock at an SMS promising a R2m reward to anyone who kills its youth league president Julius Malema.
The ANC was taking the threat "very seriously" and had reported it to Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa for investigation, ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu said.
"... This SMS is clearly a public declaration to kill," he said.
The threats were a reminder of the rightwing propaganda campaigns of the past against ANC members who were eventually assassinated.
"We are hoping that there is no attempt to create such an environment around [Comrade] Malema, irrespective of the irritation some people might be having with him."
Anti-Malema campaign
Mthembu said the ANC had repeatedly warned the Freedom Front Plus that its anti-Malema campaign could be used by rightwing fringe elements to advance an agenda "that even the Freedom Front will cringe about".
"It is our view that the campaign by the Freedom Front [Plus] creates an environment conducive for anybody or grouping to take action meant to harm and even assassinate Malema," said Mthembu.
The FF+ has brought a criminal charge against Malema over his repeated singing of the lyrics "shoot the boer [farmer]".
The ANC has, in turn, indicated that it intends filing a complaint with the Equality Court against the "Prosecute Malema" campaign launched by the FF+ on March 18.
At the time, the FF+ said the campaign would consist of the gathering of signatures via e-mail and through an activism website where a protest letter, directed to President Jacob Zuma, could be signed.
These would be given to Zuma to pressurise the ANC into taking disciplinary steps against Malema.
Fears Malema's execution
The ANC said it feared the campaign could lead to Malema's execution.
"As the ANC, we draw the conclusion that it [the campaign] is meant to incite, instigate and mobilise some people to harm and even lead to the execution of the ANCYL president," said ANC spokesperson Ishmael Mnisi.
"The campaign is meant to incite the South African populace, particularly the Afrikaner community, against the president of the youth league. It poses a danger to the personal safety and security of [Comrade] Malema," he said.
FF+ chief whip Corn Mulder found it strange that the ANC wanted to take his party to court, but not the Pan Africanist Congress Youth League (PACYL).
ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe has urged law enforcement agencies to probe a PACYL threat that Malema would "either end up in a hospital or in a mortuary" unless he apologised for his remarks about the 1960 Sharpeville massacre.
Malema had insisted that the Sharpeville protest against pass laws was organised by the ANC and not by the PAC.
Mantashe said the PACYL's comments against Malema were not just hate speech but a "public declaration of the intention to kill".
- SAPA
Johannesburg - The ANC on Thursday expressed its shock at an SMS promising a R2m reward to anyone who kills its youth league president Julius Malema.
The ANC was taking the threat "very seriously" and had reported it to Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa for investigation, ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu said.
"... This SMS is clearly a public declaration to kill," he said.
The threats were a reminder of the rightwing propaganda campaigns of the past against ANC members who were eventually assassinated.
"We are hoping that there is no attempt to create such an environment around [Comrade] Malema, irrespective of the irritation some people might be having with him."
Anti-Malema campaign
Mthembu said the ANC had repeatedly warned the Freedom Front Plus that its anti-Malema campaign could be used by rightwing fringe elements to advance an agenda "that even the Freedom Front will cringe about".
"It is our view that the campaign by the Freedom Front [Plus] creates an environment conducive for anybody or grouping to take action meant to harm and even assassinate Malema," said Mthembu.
The FF+ has brought a criminal charge against Malema over his repeated singing of the lyrics "shoot the boer [farmer]".
The ANC has, in turn, indicated that it intends filing a complaint with the Equality Court against the "Prosecute Malema" campaign launched by the FF+ on March 18.
At the time, the FF+ said the campaign would consist of the gathering of signatures via e-mail and through an activism website where a protest letter, directed to President Jacob Zuma, could be signed.
These would be given to Zuma to pressurise the ANC into taking disciplinary steps against Malema.
Fears Malema's execution
The ANC said it feared the campaign could lead to Malema's execution.
"As the ANC, we draw the conclusion that it [the campaign] is meant to incite, instigate and mobilise some people to harm and even lead to the execution of the ANCYL president," said ANC spokesperson Ishmael Mnisi.
"The campaign is meant to incite the South African populace, particularly the Afrikaner community, against the president of the youth league. It poses a danger to the personal safety and security of [Comrade] Malema," he said.
FF+ chief whip Corn Mulder found it strange that the ANC wanted to take his party to court, but not the Pan Africanist Congress Youth League (PACYL).
ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe has urged law enforcement agencies to probe a PACYL threat that Malema would "either end up in a hospital or in a mortuary" unless he apologised for his remarks about the 1960 Sharpeville massacre.
Malema had insisted that the Sharpeville protest against pass laws was organised by the ANC and not by the PAC.
Mantashe said the PACYL's comments against Malema were not just hate speech but a "public declaration of the intention to kill".
- SAPA
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