JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – South African opposition leader Julius Malema on Wednesday described Zanu PF as a “criminal syndicate” rejected by the people but still clinging on to power.
The leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters, South Africa’s third largest party, told the SABC that President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime was being kept in power by military force.
“If you go to Zimbabwe, Zanu PF is not a popular party, it’s a criminal syndicate that steals elections, uses the army and the police to intimidate people,” Malema charged.
Malema was discussing the decline of the African National Congress which political analysts predict might get less than 50 percent of the popular vote in elections next year.
The ANC has governed South Africa since 1994 when the country held its first democratic elections after years of struggle against white minority rule.
“The history of the liberation movement on the continent is such that after 30 years, it becomes self-destructive, it becomes a snake that bites and eats itself, so whether the EFF is there or not, the ANC is going to die a natural death, the same thing as Zanu PF,” Malema said.
Mnangagwa was declared winner of Zimbabwe’s elections with 52 percent of the vote in August, but his opponents accused the electoral commission of suppressing the opposition vote by delivering ballot papers late to certain areas. Zanu PF agents were also accused of widespread intimidation in elections which observers from SADC said fell short of the standard for democratic elections.
