As a commenting member of the public, I was quite amused by Malema’s latest public speaking platform, “The Friends of the Youth League”, and his subsequent comments on the ANC when he honoured them in his latest speech.
Reminding me of the megaphone and tomato box politicians of old, setting up camp in a bustling street, and just firing away key words in an attempt to sweep any passersby who had nothing better to do than listen to verbal diarrhoea being flung at them; one needs to remember that it’s not about content, but style.
True, referring to yourself as a used condom, comes (pun intended) quite close an all time low in your political career, possibly sealing your fate as a true card carrying member of the bottom feeder brigade, and downgrading your status from politician to activist.
The purpose of a condom is to protect both parties from one another, a contradiction considering the situations it is normally associated with.
However, in terms of political intimacy, it’s use or be used.
This is something Malema never counted on, as he was using Zuma for his own political agenda, just to find the situation to be the other way around when he ran out of Aces and Hearts to play.
The reason?
Simple... if you had the power to oust the presiding president of the most powerful country in Africa, at age 27, you would expect to feel invulnerable to the “puppet” you blissfully helped replace him with... inflicting an expectation of big things to come in terms of your own career.
Little did he know that he would end up on a tomato box in the Eastern Cape, or for lack of a better description, Limpopo by the sea, in front of a crowd that is denied its very existence by the ANC Youth League themselves.
Currently, no one knows how much support Malema has left, although we can speculate that however few, it is fast declining.
He surely did his job as the eloquently termed rubber implement, and protected Zuma to a certain extent from the criticism he deserved, by becoming a distraction from the real issues at hand.
Or, he may have sprung a leak, and come Mangaung, the whole shebang including Malema and Zuma are tossed aside to become the “two packed ribbed” used by the ANC, in an attempt to regain their two thirds majority; something they know would be impossible with Old Jacob at the helm.
I’m sure Thabo Mbeki is struggling to contain his chuckle at the circus unfolding in front of him, vindicated by his enemies out to destroy one another, and possibly bringing a new order to the front, changing the ANC as we know it forever.
Whether you see it as right or wrong, Zuma has made it abundantly clear that Malema was a political pawn, and nothing more. The downside for Malema is... no one could give a damn, not anymore anyway.
He served his usefulness, and became impotent the moment he challenged his master directly. Had he done this in a more calculated manner, who knows? He may have had the opportunity to wield the power necessary to strike at the right time.
What I do believe he achieved was to fire off a final torpedo before self-destructing, ripping Zuma’s mask off as he fell to the ground, for the entire country to see.
Malema’s time is up, but so is Zuma’s.
For the non-ANC supporter, keeping Zuma in play after Mangaung, bears a double edged sword, as he will most certainly ensure ever declining support for the ruling party as long as he’s the president, even though he would want the country to believe that a choice against him in person, is one for Malema; a lesser of two evils, so to say.
It would seem that Malema is slowly descending to being the new “unreasonable voice”, in terms of media attention that is. Sure, he’ll probably command some minor support, mustering nothing more than entertainment value, until he’s reached a point where it would be impossible for him to be taken seriously by anyone.
Eugene Terreblanche never had the capacity to threaten the National Party, but instilled the fear of God into most blacks during apartheid, illustrating what the worst case scenario under Afrikaner rule could be.
On the other hand, to most whites, he was the object of ridicule, being viewed as a joke that never had the guts to enter the political arena, as this would unmask the little amount of support the AWB had when they advertised how they achieved less than a percent in votes during any election.
Sound familiar?
Malema will always try to regain his position within the ANC, and with time, he may even achieve such a feat. But his sting has been removed, and whoever is in power will most certainly ensure he never regains the amount of influence he had in recent years, simply because he is a creator and destroyer of presidency’s, making him a liability.
Where to then for Malema?
Well, at least Durex would be proud to launch a new brand, possibly marketed by Jessica Leandra, and named The Ju-Ju, a product that ensures nothing more than endless laughs, and pure entertainment, even though one slip-up could have life changing effects!
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