South African political leader Julius Malema has called out Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to step down and allow others to continue his legacy.
We celebrate Mugabe ... but, grandpa, it’s enough - S. Africa's Malema
The leader of opposition party Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) told the media in South Africa on Monday that 92-year-old Mugabe’s continuous stay as president is destroying the “African revolution project” and his own legacy.
“Zimbabwe’s situation is bad. President Mugabe can’t even control a spade. He is no longer capable of discharging his responsibilities … We are following in his footsteps, we are proud of the actions he has taken, but his overstay is not doing justice on the African revolution project,” Malema said.
Julius Malema, who describes himself as an African revolutionary, called on Mugabe’s Zanu PF party to be brave and allow him to step down like the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro did.
“We don’t hate the man. They can respond and insult us anyhow they want, but they are a group of cowards, those comrades in Zanu PF, to be scared to say to an old man like President Mugabe, please, with due respect, let go,” he said.
He added that Mugabe’s stay is “not good for the Zimbabwean people, is not good for SADC, is not good for the struggle of reclaiming the land in Africa.”
In response to Malema’s appeal, Zanu PF youth league leader Kudzai Chipanga told local South African media eNCA that there is no reason to change Mugabe so far as he is alive.
“You cannot talk of revolutions leaving out the names of Mugabe, Nelson Mandela, Oliver Reginald Tambo, Joshua Nkomo and Kwame Nkrumah, just to mention a few. The fact that our own hero is still alive, why does he want us to ditch him and opt for second-hand characters?” he said.
He called Malema a coward for leaving the ANC party which he served as the president of its Youth League from 2008 to 2012.