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Opposition leaders Julius Malema and Mmusi Maimane got personal with President Jacob Zuma in their state of the nation address debate.
They criticised him for his links with the politically connected Gupta family, failure to care about ordinary South Africans and ignoring the scourge of corruption in the state.
Here are 23 quotable quotes from Malema’s speech:
• We should make it clear that we do not want to debate the state of the nation address, which was presented here by an illegitimate president.
• We refuse to legitimise a morally and politically compromised president of the ANC.
• We do not recognise him due to his incapacity, lack of direction, association with criminal elements, unaccountability and pure disregard for the Constitution and the people of South Africa.
• Our people are hungry for land. Land hunger is a reality.
• The majority of our people in the township live in a state of indignity and congestion. They live like pigs when they are alive, even when they are dead.
• We will never sing Die Stem. Die Stem is another compromise which is not justifiable. No ruling, neither a court nor prison, can force us to sing a song of apartheid murderers.
• In our previous life, we uncritically accepted so many lies and conspiracy theories created by you Mr Zuma, and our fear for a third term as well misled us. But the signs were there.
• All those signs were clear that you were not capable of being a president.
• This is the man who knowingly had sex with an HIV-positive woman and later explained to a court that a shower would lessen the chances of contracting HIV. We are now the laughing stock of the world.
• This is the man who knowingly impregnated a friend’s child, despite having many wives at home. This was another sign that you are bad [at making] judgments.
• I was going to say cheers but I remembered that you are the wrong man. [After taking a sip of water].
• In my previous life when I was still friends with the minister of sport [Fikile Mbalula], he received a call from the Guptas and they told him that he will be the minister of sport.
• This is when he still had courage and he went to the national executive committee and even cried about why he was appointed by unelected leaders into positions of responsibility.
• I hope that one day, my former friend will find himself and continue to fight for a just cause.
• The crisis caused by the mindless and unexplained changes in national treasury are not some elite or palace battles; it is a crisis that has a direct effect on the lives and livelihoods of ordinary South Africans.
• Our country is being relegated to a junk country because of the actions and decisions of one man.
• There are challenges in the global economy, but Mr. Zuma is responsible for the many ills confronting our country.
• South Africa we stand here, bound and obliged by our constitutional and moral obligations, and call for the immediate removal of Mr Zuma as a president of the Republic of South Africa.
• Mr Zuma has caused so much damage and is in the process of causing more damage.
• The reality is that in no time, and under Mr Zuma’s watch and supervision, we will be left with no country and no systems to hold our people accountable.
• We are here today to once again apologise to former president [Thabo] Mbeki for being part of those who removed him on the basis of lies, rumours and gossip spread by the sitting president.
• I led a charge for the removal of President Mbeki after that meeting. Mbalula then called me from the mountain to say I must not participate in that process to remove President Mbeki because it would cause a problem.
• Mr Zupta your legacy can be summed up into three things, uMshini wami [Zuma’s signature song], Nkandla [Zuma’s homestead, on which R250 million was spent on upgrades] and Guptas.
