Having initially slipped under the radar on Saturday, Julius Malema has encountered a small-scale backlash for a jibe he used towards Pravin Gordhan, taunting the minister about his Indian heritage.

Pravin Gordhan vs the EFF

Malema’s war with Gordhan has been bubbling over for a while now, but it has reached boiling point over the past 12 months or so. Both have filed criminal charges against each other, and the Public Protector’s findings against the public enterprises chief have got the red berets energised in their campaign against “Jamandas”.

However, there may be a point where the EFF leader has crossed the line. Robust in his criticism – and pretty adept at influencing the South African political sphere – Malema’s language can often land him in a bit of trouble. We’ve arrived at that point yet again this weekend.

Julius Malema causes offence with “curry” insult

During the EFF’s birthday celebrations in Mpumalanga, Malema renewed hostilities with Pravin Gordhan. When boasting that the EFF have successfully campaigned for the removal of several other politicians, Juju told the ANC man that he would be next – but used an unfortunate stereotype in the process:

“They said the EFF would be done after Zuma was gone but we are still standing. Zuma is gone, Pravin will go. The same way we said Trollip will go, he is gone. The same way we said Gigaba will go, he is gone. The same way we said Nene will go, he is gone.”

“Jamandas, while you are enjoying your curry at home, you must know that the EFF has pronounced on you. We are only scared of God, we are not even scared of death… How can we be scared of Pravin?”

Social media reacts

Needless to say, some social media users were left with questions…

Seems like a bit of a racist statement and wtf does ‘pronounced on you’ even mean??

— cheesus (@Tyryn14) July 27, 2019

Racism, racism and more racism!!!?

— Star Khumalo (@khumalo_star) July 27, 2019

Julius Malema and Indians: An uncomfortable history

Malema has a chequered history with the Indian community of South Africa In March of this year, he was accused of stirring up racial tensions by singling out SA citizens of Indian descent and blaming them for underpaying domestic staff. He also lambasted them for “aligning with whiteness”.

During a Youth Day rally in 2018, Juju told crowds: “A majority of Indians hate Africans and a majority of Indians are racist.” This came just a year after he claimed that “Indians were worse than Afrikaaners”. The EFF has since claimed they can’t hate Indians, as their SG Godrich Gardee is of that particular descent. But many have been left unconvinced.

#EFFTurns6 Malema: Jamandas, while you are enjoying your curry at home, you must know that the EFF has pronounced on you.

— Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFSouthAfrica) July 27, 2019

(Source: The South African)