R300,000 a month to protect Malema is ridiculous

Earlier this year a DA parliamentary question revealed that President Zuma's VIP protection bill was costing South Africans R1-million a month. Now it appears that VIP protection for the ANC Youth League president Julius Malema is costing nearly one-third of that amount, despite the fact that Malema has not even been elected to government (see report).

Julius Malema is not a member of parliament or even of a provincial legislature. He is not a member of the executive. Nor is he a visiting head of state, though given the size of the man's ego one could easily be forgiven for thinking we were dealing with a reincarnation of Idi Amin. As an ordinary citizen, how can R300,000 a month of taxpayers' money - or R3.6-million a year - possibly be justified?

And what threat does Malema face? The only people issuing death threats in this country at the moment are the ANC Youth League.

Now we have millions of rands of state money protecting someone who threatens, insults and bullies with impunity. This constitutes an irretrievable blurring of the line between party and state, and the DA will be submitting parliamentary questions to ascertain the precise rationale for this allocation, and to establish whether any wrongdoing has occurred.

Statement issued by Dianne Kohler Barnard, MP, Democratic Alliance shadow minister of police, November 7 2009

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