Nice party, pity about the poor

ANC Youth League president Julius Malema's R440 000 birthday bash continued until early yesterday at Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale's Mokete Lodge.

Lavish bash: ANCYL President Julius Malema forked out more than R400 000 on his 29th birthday party which he celebrated not with the young but the old

But the Pan Africanist Youth Congress of Azania (Payco) was not impressed.

It lambasted him for his "bourgeois and opportunistic tendencies".

Payco spokesman Sello Tladi said the organisation was tired of his "unprincipled" tendencies.

"It is high time that the youth of this country must rise and teach Malema a lesson of life.

"He cannot talk Left and at the same time walk Right. He is not different from his allies who he calls yellow communists.

"His bourgeois and opportunistic tendencies have been exposed by his expensive birthday party held on Wednesday," Tladi said.

There was no shortage of drinks at the lavish party, and by 1.30am the large estate was littered with empty bottles and boxes of liquor - including the expensive Johnnie Walker Gold and Chivas Regal.

Guests included provincial politicians and top DJs.

They were served a variety of expensive wines, whiskies and beers, and the DJ Pepsi kept the guests on the dance floor.

Some of the guests were entertained in a white marquee where they reclined on black leather couches smoking cigars and quaffing fine liquor.

There were containers filled with ice and all types of ciders. When they ran out, more were brought from the main house.

There was spontaneous sing-ing of struggle songs, including President Jacob Zuma's uMshini Wam'.

Malema joined in and at one stage called Mathale to address the crowd.

"We will not backtrack from supporting Malema. An attack on Malema is an attack on the Limpopo province," he said.

Malema then told the guests: "Whatever you say about me and Premier Mathale will never bring us down."

The guests responded: "Bua" (talk).

Outside the lodge, there were flashy cars such as BMW X5s and Range Rovers.

Tladi said: "Malema and the ANCYL must be ashamed of cutting an expensive birthday cake while the majority of poor African masses that they claim to be representing in Seshego have no bread to cut; busy drinking expensive French wine while Seshego residents have no access to clean water; driving top-of-the-range Land Rovers while the people of Seshego have no roads and bridges to cross.

"The falling bridges that were constructed by his company is a clear consequence of cheap labour, exploitation of workers and nepotism," Tladi said.

"Anton Muziwakhe Lembede must be turning in his grave when an organisation he served, suffered and sacrificed for is being used as a springboard to a petty African bourgeois life at the expense of poor African youth who make up more than 40 percent of the unemployed population in this country," Tladi said.

Malema has come under fire in recent weeks for his involvement with a company that won lucrative government contracts in Limpopo. Several newspapers reported that he bankrolled his lavish lifestyle with government contracts.

The Star 05/03/10