EFF leader Julius Malema forced the owners of Kream restaurant at the Mall of Africa in Midrand, Johannesburg, to meet him and two other party MPs after initially refusing on Wednesday.
Malema and EFF spokesperson Vuyani Pambo met Kream manager Romon De Comarmond outside the establishment.
Comarmond initially refused to meet the EFF delegation led by Malema, stating: “No, we are not going to meet with a delegation, Julius, I can’t. I’m going to speak to the management and I’ll let you know.”
Malema insisted that he had an appointment with Comarmond and Kream.
”There is no appointment with me, you have not come with me with an appointment,” Comarmond fired back.
However, Malema responded: “The problem is that people come to you so peacefully and then you guys just decide to be difficult.”
He said he was a member of Parliament doing official oversight, to which Comarmond replied by asking if Malema had an official sanction from Parliament to be at Kream. ”I don’t need a sanction to be here; when I do my oversight I don’t need sanction from anyone. The arrogance you are displaying is not going to help you,” Malema said.
He further described Comarmond’s attitude as a display of what he called “white arrogance”.
”The problem with white arrogance is what you are doing, you are displaying white arrogance. I confirmed an appointment with Kream,” Malema said.
Comarmond demanded that Malema show him the confirmation.
”If you are doing that I will have to call more people to come and join me here. You are not only putting your business at risk now, you are going to affect everybody,” Malema said.
He continued: “Yesterday (on Tuesday), they confirmed that we can come and meet them today (Wednesday). It is in their interests, it is in the interest of every business that operates here that we meet and we get to understand what constitutes their employment.”
Malema said Kream was known to have taken a decision to exclude South Africans from their employ.
”They do so because they want to create an impression that Africans are taking jobs from South Africans. So they are dividing our people,” he said.
After almost 20 minutes, Comarmond emerged from the establishment and still refused to meet the EFF delegation and demanded to have a meeting with Malema.
”If you want to have a conversation, I am happy to have a conversation with you one-on-one, no cameras, no delegation so we can have a conversation,” Comarmond insisted.
However, Malema maintained that he could not leave other EFF MPs outside.
”No, no, this guy is a member of the EFF, he is a member of Parliament and there is another member of Parliament. It’s the three of us, not all of these people,” he explained.
Comarmond finally relented, saying: “It is myself and my partner, we are happy. I think that will be fine, we can have a conversation.”
