Julius Malema Does Not Want to Apologise to JSC, Attempts to Block R500k Legal Bid

• The leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters, Julius Malema, has launched an urgent appeal against an order which could make him apologise
• The order would force Malema to apologise for his line of questioning during Judge Elias Matojane's Judicial Service Commission interview
• During the interview, Malema's line of questioning for Matojane focused on charges against the party made by Trevor Manuel, which the judge had overseen

JOHANNESBURG - Julius Malema, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader, has urgently appealed against an order that would force him to apologise to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) for remarks he made while on their panel to interview Chief Justice candidates.

During the interviews, Malema asked Judge Elias Matojane about an R500 000 defamation order made against the EFF by Trevor Manuel, a former minister. Parliament’s Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interests believe that it was inappropriate for Malema to employ this line of questioning pertains to his personal matters and not the interview process.

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According to News24, the committee recommended that the National Assembly should force Malema to apologise to Matojane and his fellow JSC panellists. Only once the National Assembly has approved the recommendation will it come into effect.

Malema's plans to avoid apologising for JSC remarks

Malema wants to submit a court order to review the National Assembly's report and interdict it, as well as suspend the order that will force him to apologise, TimesLIVE reports. The EFF leader does not believe that his line of questioning was inappropriate or selfish.

"Parliament seeks to punish me in terms of its Code for my conduct before another body in another capacity, and in circumstances where that body itself did not find my conduct to be objectionable or in breach of its rules and procedures," Malema said.

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Malema clarified that he believes that politicians, including him, should be held accountable, but he does not think it is relevant in this case.

Reactions to Malema's attempt to avoid apologising

@AbutiJosef asked:

"Why does he waste a lot of money instead of just saying I am as sorry?"

@cvrooyen7 remarked:

"Pride comes before the fall."

@mondrew2 believes:

"This guy is always in the media for all the wrong reasons."

@AndrePretorius said:

"He should learn that there is consequences to his actions, he cannot keep acting the way he does."

@ALETTAHA remarked:

"Coward."

EFF vs SAPS at SONA: South Africans share their opinions of the clash

In other news about the EFF, Briefly News previously reported that on 10 February, members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), including leader Julius Malema, clashed with officers from the South African Police Service (SAPS) while the EFF members were trying to enter Cape Town City Hall for the State of the Nation Address (SONA).

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A video of the altercation was shared widely on social media. In the footage, the EFF members can be seen asking the police officers, some of which were holding riot shields, why they were stopping them from entering the SONA venue, especially considering that they were invited to the event as Members of Parliament (MPs).

The video does not clarify what caused the SAPS officers to block the EFF MPs from accessing the SONA venue. However, Malema later said that the police stopped the EFF members because they were racist and wanted to prevent the opposition party from fulfilling their duties.

Source: Briefly News