Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema is demanding that Helen Zille of the Democratic Alliance retract remarks, quoted in a letter from Malema’s attorneys, that ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba “became the EFF’s mayor” and allowed Malema “to dictate major decisions and capture … City Power, and dictate the fleet tender”. The letter also quotes Zille as saying Mashaba appointed Shadrack Sibiya as head of Johannesburg’s anti-corruption unit “at Julius’s instruction”.

The letter, sent this week, attributes the remarks to an interview on Sunday and gives Zille until close of business on Wednesday to retract and apologise, or face “a claim for damages and an interdict restraining any further publication of the statements”.

The EFF published the four-page letter on X this morning, saying the allegations were “untrue and defamatory”.

Malema’s attorneys called the allegations “vexatious, misplaced, spurious and untrue”, and said they had been instructed that the statements were made “deliberately to exact political revenge” on Malema and the EFF.

The letter demands that Zille retract the statements in a public statement that includes an apology, share it on all of  her social media accounts, issue it as a press statement and undertake in writing not to repeat the statements.

The statement’s form and content must be submitted to Malema's attorneys “for approval before it is published”, and the EFF will distribute it to the media houses whose contact details it holds, the letter says.