Helen Zille says ‘no’ to Julius Malema’s demand for retraction and apology

Ask AI 1minThe DA's Helen Zille has responded to Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema's legal letter of demand over alleged defamatory comments.

Democratic Alliance (DA) City of Johannesburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille has briefly responded to Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema’s legal demand for her to retract and apologise for alleged defamatory remarks. 

Zille briefly commented on the letter Malema’s legal team, England Slabbert Attorneys Inc., sent her after X user Tumi Sole shared the letter online and asked, “Will she retract?” 

Zille simply responded, “No”, indicating she has no intention of retracting the comments she made about Malema during an eNCA interview on Sunday. 

In the interview, Zille responded to a question about the tensions between her and ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba. She said that during his tenure as Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, Mashaba was an EFF mayor and alleged that he allowed Malema to dictate major decisions. 

She also alleged that Mashaba assisted Malema in the capture of City Power, dictated fleet tenders, and advanced Malema’s interests and front companies. Zille also alleged that Mashaba appointed former South African Police Service (SAPS) deputy national commissioner Shadrack Sibiya as head of the anti-corruption unit at Malema’s instruction.

Malema’s legal team said Zille’s comments portrayed the EFF leader as dishonest, corrupt, manipulative, and unethical. They also said Zille’s comments portrayed him as someone who uses his political power for personal gain and to influence public office and procurement processes. 

Zille was given until Wednesday, November 11, to retract her statements and issue an apology in a press statement. The statement should be posted on all of Zille’s social media platforms, such as X, Facebook and Instagram. 

Malema’s lawyers have also instructed Zille to share the statement with media houses with which she has a relationship, and the EFF’s Communication Department would distribute it to media houses in its database. 

The EFF leader’s legal team said failure to publish the press statement by the deadline would lead to further legal action against Zille. The team plans to pursue claims for damages and an interdict restraining any further publication of the statements. 

Zille has made no further comments regarding the matter.