Johannesburg - EFF leader Julius Malema has been receiving mixed reactions following his controversial claims that President Cyril Ramaphosa "is a bastard".
Malema made the claims during his party's protest outside the US embassy in Pretoria on Monday. The protest was organised to show support for African-Americans who have been calling for a reform of the police system in the country following the killing of a black man, George Floyd, by a white police officer.
Malema had made various claims against the president at the protest saying he had no right to show solidarity with the #BlackLivesMatter movement because he had been responsible for the killing of mineworkers by police officers during a wage strike at the Lonmin Mine in Marikana in 2012. Ramaphosa held shares at Lonmin at the time, but there has been no evidence he called for the killing of the mineworkers.
Malema went on to call Ramaphosa an ally of "white monopoly capital" a phrase his party has used over the years as part of his political ammunition against Ramaphosa.
"This bastard called Cyril sold this country even before he became president," Malema told a crowd of supporters at Monday's protest.
The EFF leader repeated the claims in a tweet he sent out on Tuesday.
Malema and his party have been critical of the government's strategy to re-open up the economy following a harsher form of national lockdown seen in March and April which was meant to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Malema's tweets and statements have not been entirely well received with a trend "#JuliusMalemaMustFall" trending on Twitter with users being critical of the language used by Malema to describe the president.
Some users have come out in support of his comments.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/juliusmalemamustfall?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#juliusmalemamustfall pic.twitter.com/CZN8DW5RtQ
— STAY AT HOME!!! (@iamthembankala)
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/juliusmalemamustfall?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#juliusmalemamustfallhe will fall in your dreams, go back to sleep! pic.twitter.com/4e4RQqrHRr
— Mmadikgosi Matshego (@Mmadikgosi_23)