It’s Malema vs Zuma now

2010-05-11 09:33

Julius Malema is mad. He is not happy. He doesn’t like being hauled before the ANC’s disciplinary committee at all. And so he’s taking his fight to the person he believes should be looking out for him. Juju seems to be thinking, I looked out for you, put myself at risk for you, now you’re going to throw me under the bus? I put you there and I can take you down. You are at my mercy Mr President. If you like the comforts and the trappings of your office, enjoy them. They will last - but not for you Mr President. Juju is ready for an old Western duel.

This is going to be fun. I’m getting my popcorn ready.

If Malema implies that even Thabo Mbeki was better than Jacob Zuma, we know that he means business. The YL president is a wounded animal and wounded animals are dangerous.

Malema took two jabs at the president of the country and of the ANC last week at a Young Women's Assembly, organised by the Youth League. He said some pretty explosive things.

It appears that Julius went with his mshini wakhe blazing at the president with some thinly veiled jabs at Zuma, they were as sharp as anything Mike Tyson threw at his peak.

When the president was in England to visit the Queen, he said that nationalisation of mines was not ANC policy. Do you think Julius Malema has forgotten that? Oh no he hasn’t. His memory is elephantine. Please allow me to quote Malema, "Other people can go around the world, even to the Queen in Britain to make assurances that mines will not be nationalised, yet the reality of the situation is that nationalisation of mines is currently on the agenda of the ANC."

Veiled attacks

I think the choice of “...even to the Queen of Britain” was an inspired choice of words. My eyes almost popped out when I came across that. Juju is back, I said to myself. Oh yes, how I had missed him. If you thought that was all he would say you are mistaken. In the words of early morning shopping channel hosts, but wait, there’s more. And more there was indeed. And he served a generous double offering.

He went on to emphasise the ANCYL’s message of “one boyfriend, one girlfriend”. This is a noble cause. One that needs to be applauded as loudly as possible - unfortunately he used it for yet another thinly veiled attack upon the president it seems. Sometimes I read the paragraph you’re about to see and say to myself, he didn’t mean to be taking pot shots at the president, it’s just a coincidence. So what did he say? Wait for it. And allow me to quote.

"Multi-sexual (partner) relationships should be discouraged, not only amongst the youth, but amongst all South Africans because the scourge of HIV and Aids impacts on all of us, irrespective of gender, culture and age."

The president has more than one sexual partner I assume, considering he has more than one wife and a 20th child with a woman who is not his wife. President Zuma also says that his culture permits him to have many wives, thus many sexual partners. If this is not a personal attack on the president I don’t know what is. This was a warning shot to the president. You have weaknesses, I can exploit them and I am not afraid to go after you. Give me all you’ve got, I have more on you pal. This is a challenge to the president.

By all intents and purposes it appears that Malema is prepared to go on a dual with the president. He must be thinking I have taken down one president; I can certainly take you down too. It is in this case that I think the young Juju might be overestimating his power. He may be so used to people who say yes to him all the time that he doesn’t realise that political tectonic plates are shifting beneath him - that knives are being sharpened and will soon be plunged - not even on his back, but right in front. This would be in keeping with Oscar Wilde, “True friends stab you in the front.”

Tread carefully

Unfortunately Malema is an open book. His reactions are too predictable. I hear everywhere people getting tired of him, and these rumblings are from within the ANC and the very YL he leads. “He is an embarrassment,” one ANCYL member said to me.

I guess it is too late to urge the ANCYL president to cultivate a more cerebral, calm reasoned approach as opposed to the more belligerent one he has adopted. Jesus warned against building on sand, rather build on rock. Malema is not building on a rock. The ANC is going to change in 10, 15, 20 years time. The people who will be electing leaders then won’t forget who he was. The black middle class is rising and in that time the ANC will be in their hands. They will not want to have anything to do with him and he will wonder how he squandered his certain ascent to power.

If he is not careful he will be toast. Soon. People are more tired of him than they are of the president. He had better tread carefully.


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