The Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema is at it again, this time lashing out at the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) following a statement calling him out for spreading “fake news”.
The back-and-forth comes after a series of tweets by Malema over the weekend with one tweet suggesting that soldiers deployed to hot spot areas such as KwaZulu-Natal where violence and looting took place are pleading for help and allegedly claimed that the “the army is threatening to withdraw,” reports EWN.
The army is threatening to withdraw!??♂️ pic.twitter.com/lBSk0pzBi5
— Julius Sello Malema (@Julius_S_Malema) August 22, 2021
President Cyril Ramaphosa last week extended the deployment of the military personnel to help police fight crime and maintain law and order in the country until September 13.
Malema was not shy about sharing his opinion on the ANC’s peacekeeping tactics and stated that the government needs to recall soldiers deployed in Gauteng and KZN. As South Africans get ready to head to the polls in October, Malema believes that having boots on the ground during the run-up to these elections was unconstitutional, calling the deployment an intimidation tactic by the ANC to retain power, reports African Insider.
In response, and without mentioning names, SANDF released a statement indicating that they were “highly concerned by ill-intended social media comments about the alleged withdrawal of soldiers from Operation Prosper.
“The SANDF dismisses without contempt and scoffs at the baseless insinuations aimed at causing panic in the country. Perpetrators of these insinuations are reminded that it is an illegal and prosecutable offence to spread fake news or misinformation.”
However, SANDF has admitted that there have been several challenges regarding rations packs and payment of meal allowances but maintained that the issues had since been resolved.
SA National Defence Force Media Statement | Monday, 23 August 2021 | The SA National Defence Force scoffs at social media comments on the alleged withdrawal of soldiers from Operation PROSPER.#SANDF#DCCMediaLiaison#JointOperationsDivision pic.twitter.com/9EPc8Vi10n
— SA National Defence Force (@SANDF_ZA) August 23, 2021
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Picture: African Insider