 Malema: They're out to get me Julius Malema blames left-wing conspiracy for attack on his financial dealings Dominic Mahlangu, The Times, Johannesburg, 22 February 2010 Embattled ANC Youth League president Julius Malema claims that senior leaders in the ruling party are in cahoots with mining companies to oust him. He also insinuated that he was a victim of racism, saying the R814,000 Mercedes-Benz C63 he owns was "nothing compared to cars of white kids in Sandton". Malema blamed recent revelations that he had profited from government contracts on leftist leaders in the alliance of the ANC, SACP and Cosatu, who fear the youth league will oppose their bids for re-election to the ruling party's national executive committee in 2012. He said these leaders were working with "the right wing in the form of [mining companies]" which opposed the youth league's call for the nationalisation of mineral resources. "Those who own the means of production, and those who think the ANC Youth League will not support them for election and re-election to ANC leadership in 2012, have merged to try and discredit the leadership of the youth league," Malema told a press conference at Luthuli House, the ANC's headquarters, in Johannesburg. The Sunday Times revealed at the weekend that SGL Engineering Projects, a firm in which Malema held a stake, had profited from more than R130-million in state tenders in the past two years. The newspaper reported that companies associated with Malema had benefited from about 20 government contracts in his Limpopo home province. These revelations prompted condemnation of the youth league leader, who fashions himself as the champion of the poor, by opposition parties. Afriforum Youth yesterday called on the Public Protector to investigate Malema's business interests and establish whether he had "exploited the poor". But Malema retorted with anger: "Nobody will tell me I stole from the poor. I have never done that." In a clear sign of a rift between the ANC Youth League and the ANC's leftist allies, the Communications Workers' Union, which is an affiliate of Cosatu, issued a hard-hitting statement yesterday denouncing the use of political positions for self-enrichment. But Malema insisted during the press conference that he had done nothing wrong and claimed that he had resigned from all private companies in which he had a stake when he was elected ANCYL president in April 2008. "I instructed my lawyers to process my resignations from all the corporations and companies I was involved in when I was based in Limpopo," he said, without providing any proof. He then claimed to know which leaders within the ANC were responsible for the weekend media reports, but said he was not prepared to name them. "Who are we to go around throwing allegations against the leadership? We are not that type of youth. But you can rest assured that these leaders, when we meet them, especially those who are behind this [media leaks], we will tell them we know [they are] behind this," Malema said. He also took on opposition leaders and journalists. He accused Cope's Limpopo leader and former premier, Sello Moloto, of "spreading lies" about him, and claimed that journalists "were sleeping with politicians" to obtain stories. "We know who receives brown envelopes and where, who sleeps with who where, who drinks with who until 7am, revealing everything," he said. Malema refuted claims that he owned several cars, saying only the C63 was registered in his name. "This car I own is nothing compared to the cars of white kids, sports cars they play with in Sandton every Sunday," he said. But the Communications Workers' Union said "no amount of bullying, grandstanding and rhetorical radicalism" would stop unions in their calls for a state audit of the lifestyle of prominent politicians such as Malema. Union spokesman Matankana Mothapo said the ANC alliance was under threat from "deep-seated Kebble-ism, which hands out largesse in order to secure personal accumulation agendas". Brett Kebble, after whom this trend is called, was a mining magnate who funded a number of ANC Youth League leaders before being shot dead in 2006. The union said the state should "not be used as a vehicle for self-enrichment and dispensation of patronage at the expense of the needs and aspirations of the vast majority of our people". "We reject the usage of public offices and leadership positions for ill-gotten wealth and exclusive parties in opulent suburbs by our public representatives and leaders." Malema last year hosted a house-warming party at his R3.6-million Sandown mansion in northern Johannesburg. President Jacob Zuma's ANC spokesman, Zizi Kodwa, a former ANCYL official, recently hosted his 40th birthday party at an exclusive nightclub in Sandton. 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