Opinion / Columnist
Julius Malema, leave the drama to Morgan Tsvangirai!
27 Apr 2016 at 10:10hrs | Views
The heat is on in South Africa. Things have been moving far too heady in that country, politically and economically. President Jacob Zuma of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) is seen as the main cause of trouble because of his conduct as the leader of one of Africa's powerhouses.
The accusations are both unfair and fair to varying extents.
The general sentiment is that Zuma is as inept as he is corrupt; witness his fishy relations with a family by the name Gupta with whom he has had improper relations so much so that the same Guptas have even been said to have "captured" the state of South Africa.
This capture is no less illustrated by revelations that they even have the power to appoint, or cause the appointment of ministers.
In fact, it was one such moment and action that saw Zuma a couple weeks back appoint a chap called Van Rooyen to be Finance Minister, with nasty results, as the rand crashed and lost about 17 percent of its value in one day while stocks have been falling and falling as investor confidence has tumbled.
At least that is the explanation of the capitalists — the monopoly capital — and their newspapers.
You don't have to buy it.
In fact, there are reasonable grounds to believe a conspiracy is underway against not only Zuma, but the ANC too — the continent's oldest revolutionary movement.
But Zuma has a surfeit of foibles, the Nkandla debacle, which saw him being found in breach of the national constitution that he swore to protect and was only lucky to be saved his skin by a parliamentary majority that batted off impeachment attempts at him.
Zuma has been pursued by a lot of allegations that can easily impugn a man and his standing — and head of state for that matter; not least that tragicomic idea about showering after sex with an HIV+ person.
It is for these reasons, not forgetting the Marikana massacre of mineworkers under his government, that it is easy for one to oppose President Zuma.
If one were to add a little drama to it, the better for both practitioners and us all spectators of such democratic dalliance.
Certainly, Malema has brought a lot of drama to the South African body politic since he announced his own outfit in 2011 after being booted out of the ANC Youth League.
The decision to part ways with Malema has brewed more than enough trouble for the ANC and in particular Zuma, and it is a fact that the decision was not unanimous as some people felt that expelling Malema and his buddies such as Floyd Shivambu was a mistake.
People like Winnie Mandela have been emblematic of this view.
In fact, for many of us the fallout is equally problematic.
In a way, one could feel that Malema would have presented a generational continuation within the ANC, having had to go within the mill of educational orientation and temperance, (maybe).
But it is all lost now.
Malema and his Economic Freedom Fighters are veering off the course of being simply a radical left; a refinement of the ANC that lost its revolutionary zeal.
Now all sorts of things are being whispered around Malema, including being associated with counter-revolutionaries such as George Soros and at worst the United States' CIA.
It is most unfortunate.
But nothing is more unfortunate than what he told Al Jazeera a couple of days ago.
He said he was ready to take up arms against the government of ANC.
He put in a proviso of a violent government, but we all know that he had lost it.
And he lost it in a most stupid and arrogant manner.
Let's revisit the story a bit.
He says that he will not allow the forthcoming municipal elections to be rigged (like before, allegedly).
"We are not going to accept. Part of the revolutionary duty is to fight and we are not at shame if the need arises for us to take up arms and fight. We will fight.
"This regime must respond peacefully to our demands, must respond constitutionally to our demands.
"And if they are going to respond violently like they did in the township of Alexandra just outside Johannesburg, when people said these results do not reflect the outcome of our vote, they sent the army to go and intimidate our people.
"We are not going to stand there. Zuma is not going to use the army to intimidate us. We are not scared of the army. We are not scared to fight. We will fight."
And he made it clear that this was not being figurative.
He meant it.
Now he is facing the backlash, which is something that he must have anticipated.
Not only has this opened him to attack from the ANC, he is also sure to face the prospect of being charged with treason at law.
He may yet profit from it in terms of publicity (which he already has, anyway) and sympathy, but even his closest admirers will know that he is being reckless.
And daft.
Such words, we had hoped, were a preserve of the Morgan Tsvangirais of this world.
It is sad when a guy like Malema, whose stock was rising exponentially could not read history well, especially with a well publicised neighbour as Zimbabwe.
Perhaps, he thought he could take a leaf?
It would be a sad day to learn that Julius Malema has become a student of Morgan Tsvangirai when he has come and seen and interacted with really gentleman politicians like President Mugabe.
Without appearing to self-contradict, it must be put on record that the war and revolution that President Mugabe stands for, which at some point necessitated the barrel of the gun, is not espoused in a mere corrupt administration of a tainted leader but a whole political, social and economic system.
Zuma could be tackled nicely within limited political parameters.
And he is a dead man walking, anyway.
SO what's the crap about guns and their barrels?
And has Malema himself forgotten what he once said: "We are not to wage any war against Zuma and the ANC. . . We are waging a war against the white monopoly capital.
"Zuma is not our enemy, the ANC is not our enemy, they are standing in our way to crashing white monopoly capital which has stolen our land, which controls the wealth of our country, and as we are in the process of crashing the white monopoly capital, there will be some of those irritations that we have to deal with and Zuma represents such an irritation, the ANC represents such an irritation."
An irritation hardly merits a gun to deal with.
No, Malema was not misquoted.
He may yet stand with those words — which is typical of him — but that is the worst he has come of late.
The accusations are both unfair and fair to varying extents.
The general sentiment is that Zuma is as inept as he is corrupt; witness his fishy relations with a family by the name Gupta with whom he has had improper relations so much so that the same Guptas have even been said to have "captured" the state of South Africa.
This capture is no less illustrated by revelations that they even have the power to appoint, or cause the appointment of ministers.
In fact, it was one such moment and action that saw Zuma a couple weeks back appoint a chap called Van Rooyen to be Finance Minister, with nasty results, as the rand crashed and lost about 17 percent of its value in one day while stocks have been falling and falling as investor confidence has tumbled.
At least that is the explanation of the capitalists — the monopoly capital — and their newspapers.
You don't have to buy it.
In fact, there are reasonable grounds to believe a conspiracy is underway against not only Zuma, but the ANC too — the continent's oldest revolutionary movement.
But Zuma has a surfeit of foibles, the Nkandla debacle, which saw him being found in breach of the national constitution that he swore to protect and was only lucky to be saved his skin by a parliamentary majority that batted off impeachment attempts at him.
Zuma has been pursued by a lot of allegations that can easily impugn a man and his standing — and head of state for that matter; not least that tragicomic idea about showering after sex with an HIV+ person.
It is for these reasons, not forgetting the Marikana massacre of mineworkers under his government, that it is easy for one to oppose President Zuma.
If one were to add a little drama to it, the better for both practitioners and us all spectators of such democratic dalliance.
Certainly, Malema has brought a lot of drama to the South African body politic since he announced his own outfit in 2011 after being booted out of the ANC Youth League.
The decision to part ways with Malema has brewed more than enough trouble for the ANC and in particular Zuma, and it is a fact that the decision was not unanimous as some people felt that expelling Malema and his buddies such as Floyd Shivambu was a mistake.
People like Winnie Mandela have been emblematic of this view.
In fact, for many of us the fallout is equally problematic.
In a way, one could feel that Malema would have presented a generational continuation within the ANC, having had to go within the mill of educational orientation and temperance, (maybe).
But it is all lost now.
Malema and his Economic Freedom Fighters are veering off the course of being simply a radical left; a refinement of the ANC that lost its revolutionary zeal.
Now all sorts of things are being whispered around Malema, including being associated with counter-revolutionaries such as George Soros and at worst the United States' CIA.
It is most unfortunate.
But nothing is more unfortunate than what he told Al Jazeera a couple of days ago.
He said he was ready to take up arms against the government of ANC.
He put in a proviso of a violent government, but we all know that he had lost it.
And he lost it in a most stupid and arrogant manner.
Let's revisit the story a bit.
He says that he will not allow the forthcoming municipal elections to be rigged (like before, allegedly).
"We are not going to accept. Part of the revolutionary duty is to fight and we are not at shame if the need arises for us to take up arms and fight. We will fight.
"This regime must respond peacefully to our demands, must respond constitutionally to our demands.
"And if they are going to respond violently like they did in the township of Alexandra just outside Johannesburg, when people said these results do not reflect the outcome of our vote, they sent the army to go and intimidate our people.
"We are not going to stand there. Zuma is not going to use the army to intimidate us. We are not scared of the army. We are not scared to fight. We will fight."
And he made it clear that this was not being figurative.
He meant it.
Now he is facing the backlash, which is something that he must have anticipated.
Not only has this opened him to attack from the ANC, he is also sure to face the prospect of being charged with treason at law.
He may yet profit from it in terms of publicity (which he already has, anyway) and sympathy, but even his closest admirers will know that he is being reckless.
And daft.
Such words, we had hoped, were a preserve of the Morgan Tsvangirais of this world.
It is sad when a guy like Malema, whose stock was rising exponentially could not read history well, especially with a well publicised neighbour as Zimbabwe.
Perhaps, he thought he could take a leaf?
It would be a sad day to learn that Julius Malema has become a student of Morgan Tsvangirai when he has come and seen and interacted with really gentleman politicians like President Mugabe.
Without appearing to self-contradict, it must be put on record that the war and revolution that President Mugabe stands for, which at some point necessitated the barrel of the gun, is not espoused in a mere corrupt administration of a tainted leader but a whole political, social and economic system.
Zuma could be tackled nicely within limited political parameters.
And he is a dead man walking, anyway.
SO what's the crap about guns and their barrels?
And has Malema himself forgotten what he once said: "We are not to wage any war against Zuma and the ANC. . . We are waging a war against the white monopoly capital.
"Zuma is not our enemy, the ANC is not our enemy, they are standing in our way to crashing white monopoly capital which has stolen our land, which controls the wealth of our country, and as we are in the process of crashing the white monopoly capital, there will be some of those irritations that we have to deal with and Zuma represents such an irritation, the ANC represents such an irritation."
An irritation hardly merits a gun to deal with.
No, Malema was not misquoted.
He may yet stand with those words — which is typical of him — but that is the worst he has come of late.
Source - the herald
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