EFF leader Julius Malema on Thursday defended EFF first funder and cigarette trader Adriano Mazzotti.
Mazzotti gave the EFF its first registration fee for the 2014 elections. Malema was talking at the EFF 10th anniversary gala dinner at the Emperors Palace in Ekurhuleni.
The firebrand leader of the red berets, in Mazzotti’s presence, said he takes offence in the tobacco manufacturer being muddied for his association with the EFF.
Malema praised Mazzotti for believing in the EFF when it was not fashionable to do so.
“When the IEC [Independent Electoral Commission] asked us to pay money, me and Floyd [Shivambu] had nothing,” he told business people at the elegant event.
“We looked at each other in the eyes and said ‘what is going to happen’. The IEC asked for R600 000 and at that time we had no means none whatsoever.
“I was later to be told, through a telephone call by Mazzotti who has a unique voice, when he said ‘brother, the money is paid, and we knew we are good to go.
“That was how the EFF was allowed to contest the first elections in 2014. We are very proud of Adriano Mazzotti and I am not ashamed to associate with him.
“We do not know his business because he is not our business partner, he donated money to the EFF like all of you who bought tables here.
“We never asked what do you do for your business. We just declared because it was not a secret that the money was donated by Adriano Mazzotti, so we do not run an underworld.”
The EFF leader said South Africans must rest assured that the EFF was “not part” of whatever Mazzotti does.
In any event, he charged: “Mazotti has never been arrested neither has Mazzotti ever been charged, thus it was no shame to associate with him.”
According to Malema, it is unfair to associate Mazzotti with criminality when his is a clean record. Mazzotti’s sin, he believes, is only giving the EFF IEC registration money.
“He is hated more for making sure that this organisation exists and is giving trouble to the establishment and white monopoly capital.”
Mazzotti owns one of the leading tobacco traders in the country, Carnilinx, which competes toe to toe with Johann Rupert’s British American Tobacco (BAT).
Recently, Carnilinx fingered BAT for spying on competitors in its opposition to SA Revenue Service’s move to install surveillance cameras 24/7 at warehouses and manufacturing plants of cigarette makers.
The taxman has believes the move will help curb tax avoidance.
Mazzotti’s appearance at the EFF gala dinner was a rare occurrence for a man known for operating under the radar, and Malema praising him more eyebrows.
The red berets will on Saturday hold its “mother of all rallies” as it turns 10 years since its formation. It has since grown to become South Africa’s third-largest political party.
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