Controversial media figure Ngizwe Mlando Mchunu has issued a formal, unconditional public apology and retraction to Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) President Julius Malema.
This comes in the wake of two binding court orders handed down in May 2026, compelling Mchunu to legally answer for a series of highly inflammatory and defamatory remarks made against the political leader.
In a statement on Thursday, Mchunu stated that after seeking legal counsel, he had come to a full appreciation of the legal implications of the directives and chose to profusely apologise to Malema while committing to refrain from publishing similar impugned statements in the future.
The retraction specifically addresses several severe allegations Mchunu had previously leveled against the EFF leader. Among the retracted statements were unfounded claims that Malema had received 60 million from Nigerian drug dealers and illegal foreigners to protect them, alongside assertions that Malema had looted the collapsed VBS Mutual Bank and misappropriated funds in Ekurhuleni and through On Point Engineering.
The pulled statements also contained deeply personal insults, in which Mchunu had referred to Malema as a “political devil,” a “dead snake,” and a “dog,” while aggressively challenging the politician to confront him at his location in Nkandla. Mchunu has formally withdrawn all such defamatory remarks made both before and after the court orders were issued.
During another interview in Johannesburg on April 30, Mchunu launched a series of personal and political attacks against the opposition leader.
“I won’t speak about a dead snake, Julius Malema is like a dead snake something that won’t wake up,” Mchunu said in the translated transcript before adding that Malema “must go to jail”.
He further accused Malema of taking money from “On Point Engineering”, “loot[ing] VBS”, and “eating money of illegal foreigners”, while again alleging that the politician was receiving “60 million dollars from illegal foreigners”.
Mchunu also referred to Malema as “a political devil” and claimed that “the president is scared of him”.
The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria ruled that the statements constituted defamatory conduct and ordered Mchunu not to repeat the allegations “explicitly, impliedly, or otherwise”.
Concluding his legal compliance statement, Mchunu called upon the general public and his base of supporters to accept his decision and the formal retraction.
