Opinion / Columnist
Malema deserved it: Zapu
10 Nov 2011 at 13:01hrs | Views
ZAPU wishes to comment on the punishment handed to ANC Youth leader Julius Malema by his own party.
While the five-year suspension may seem harsh, Zapu believes Mr Malema deserved it or any other form of sanction because he willfully and publicly criticized fellow party members, and attempted to poison the cordial relations between the ANC and other its neighbours such as Botswana and Zimbabwe, by issuing ill-advised public statements tantamount to interference in the affairs of other countries. Mr Malema had no right to attack the government of Botswana and threaten to remove it from power like he did. Neither did he have a right to cross the Limpopo and travel all the way to Harare to praise a dictatorship such as the Zanu-PF government under the leadership of Robert Mugabe. Zapu wonders what would motivate such a young and seemingly smart young man to imagine that what Mugabe and Zanu-PF are doing is a good way of running a country.
Zapu was annoyed by Mr Malema's behavior and we have bottled our feelings until today when the ANC's own internal disciplinary body has handed down judgment on his case, and hope the young Malema will take his predicament as a learning exercise and moulding to be a better leader. Populism alone does not make good leadership. Discipline, respect, humility and dignity are some of the key virtues of a good leader. These attributes seem absent in Mr Malema's political practice.
Zapu takes this opportunity to congratulate our sister liberation movement and real comrade-in-arms, the ANC for being brave and doing what is right for South Africa and indeed the whole of Africa by setting an example that no leader, no matter how popular they seem, is untouchable. Africa needs to be freed from populists who destroy economies through their mouths, all in the name of power.
While the five-year suspension may seem harsh, Zapu believes Mr Malema deserved it or any other form of sanction because he willfully and publicly criticized fellow party members, and attempted to poison the cordial relations between the ANC and other its neighbours such as Botswana and Zimbabwe, by issuing ill-advised public statements tantamount to interference in the affairs of other countries. Mr Malema had no right to attack the government of Botswana and threaten to remove it from power like he did. Neither did he have a right to cross the Limpopo and travel all the way to Harare to praise a dictatorship such as the Zanu-PF government under the leadership of Robert Mugabe. Zapu wonders what would motivate such a young and seemingly smart young man to imagine that what Mugabe and Zanu-PF are doing is a good way of running a country.
Zapu takes this opportunity to congratulate our sister liberation movement and real comrade-in-arms, the ANC for being brave and doing what is right for South Africa and indeed the whole of Africa by setting an example that no leader, no matter how popular they seem, is untouchable. Africa needs to be freed from populists who destroy economies through their mouths, all in the name of power.
Source - Zapu
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