'Voetsek': Malema responds to DA's query about Zuma tea party bill

EFF leader Julius Malema has reacted to the DA's plan to launch a probe into who footed the bill for his visit to former president Jacob Zuma’s homestead in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal.

On Sunday, Malema told DA MP Natasha Mazzone to “voetsek” after she announced that the official opposition party had written to National Assembly speaker Thandi Modise regarding his tea date with Zuma that took place on Friday.

Mazzone said the DA was demanding details on who funded the much-talked-about “tea date”, and asked Modise to investigate in full exactly how and who paid for the trip.

Malema arrived at Zuma's multimillion-rand Nkandla homestead in KwaZulu-Natal by helicopter in the company of advocate and national chairperson of the EFF, Dali Mpofu.

The two had a “nice, sweet and very hot” tea during their “meeting of black people”.  

Mazzone asked Modise to instruct various parliamentary staff members who oversee the payment of entitlements to MPs, as well as the registrar of member’s interests who oversees all gifts, hospitality, and travel benefits to investigate the extravagant trip.

“The speaker of the National Assembly has the authority to request the acting secretary of parliament to investigate all travel claims made by any MP and also has the authority to report any possible abuse of resources allocated to any current or former MP to the relevant authority once she is made aware of such abuse,” said Mazzone.

Mazzone said the tea date raised questions that required urgent attention, specifically:

• Were any official travel entitlements used to fund the visit? 
• Were any vehicles of VIP protection service used to transport any of the guests to and from Nkandla? and
• Were any benefits received in terms of travel or hospitality that require a declaration to be made in the register of Members Interests in parliament?

“As MPs, we have an absolute responsibility to ensure that at no time is the South African taxpayers’ money abused or wasted,” said Mazzone.

“We have a duty to ensure that this tea party in no way cost the economy of SA a single cent, that could have been used to purchase vaccines for the people.”