Rude Malema: ANC reaps whirlwind
ANC Youth League president Julius Malema is getting a raw and unfair deal. I am not sure why President Jacob Zuma and the ANC Veterans League are on his case about ill-discipline and disrespect for the elders - as though being older affords you a divine right to be respected!
In all these instances, the ANC and its president have either "engaged" with Malema, justified his utterances or given him a slap on the wrist.
So what has changed Mr President? - Redi Direko Tlhabi
Malema might not have been the brightest spark in the classroom but, for goodness's sake, give the man credit for consistency.
I beg to differ with Irish novelist Oscar Wilde, who believed that "consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative" and on various occasions implied it was foolish to be consistent.
In this on-off love affair between Malema and President Zuma, it is not the former who is foolish. Malema consistently employs the same tactics that propelled him to the presidency of the youth league.
If you can find examples of Malema leading a peaceful protest march, addressing his detractors calmly and with respect or showing due respect and consideration for his opponent's age and stature, then we are living in two different worlds.
It is simply not Malema's style to display reverence and caution when challenging any contender. He has been consistently brazen, loud and crude.
He has also, from his days as president of the Congress of South African Students, displayed an unwavering passion for anarchy. I remember when I questioned him about his supporters displaying their ugly, dry bums at the election conference that saw him elected youth league leader.
In all honesty I had not expected him to condemn the actions, but when he said "even at cricket games some people run around the field naked", I duly rested my case.
Remember Malema's vitriol against IFP "elder" Mangosuthu Buthelezi? Not only did he call Buthelezi a "factory fault", but he likened him to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. Now that is an insult.
During her tenure as education minister, Naledi Pandor and her "American accent" were not spared Malema's venom.
Perhaps the most insulted leader of them all was former president Thabo Mbeki, who was called all sorts of pejoratives in the dying days of his presidency.
Malema also launched juvenile attacks on opposition leaders. Of Patricia de Lille he said she "doesn't look like a married woman. There's no normal man who can marry Patricia. If Patricia has got a husband, that husband must divorce Patricia and come and look for well-mannered and beautiful women in the ANC".
Western Cape Premier Helen Zille was called a "satanist" and a "racist girl" who "slept around" with her male MECs.
When the Polokwane honeymoon was over, the youth league leader turned the heat on his comrades in the SACP, accusing some of them of being "elites who spend most of their time drinking red wine".
The foul-mouthed Malema was also stinging in his description of SACP deputy general secretary Jeremy Cronin as a "white messiah".
But we should not feel sorry for the SACP. They sat quietly and folded their arms while Malema was tearing other leaders to pieces and condemned him only when they were at the receiving end of his brashness.
In all these instances, the ANC and its president have either "engaged" with Malema, justified his utterances or given him a slap on the wrist.
It is only when he criticised Zuma that harsher action was threatened against him. The president and the ANC veterans must not pretend to be genuinely concerned about ill-discipline within the movement.
Their concern stems from their own personal injury at insults directed at them. When everyone was calling on Zuma to show decisive leadership and censor Malema, the president was busy extolling the latter's virtues as a leader. Zuma said Malema was "worthy of inheriting the ANC ... and has illustrated that he is indeed a good leader and that he understands the people".
That was exactly a year ago, so pray tell, what has changed, Mr President? Malema is still the same firebrand who insulted many elders and displayed ill-discipline while the leadership of the ANC cheered him on.
It is disingenuous to pretend Malema and the youth league's behaviour is "alien" to the ANC.
Malema has not changed. He has merely found new people to challenge and insult.
TebzaWaBana
I agree, Malema has been and continues to play the role of a useful idiot in the hands of those who are pulling strings at any given point. As soon as he falls into the hands of new handlers who can pay for his Louis Vuitton and Heineken and other luxuries, he forgets the rest and starts barking inthe direction of those faced by his handlers. He has been very consistent in playing his role as a useful idiot.Oh, and people whose IQ's is just as equal or below zero love the brother without realising the damage this idiot is inflicting on the image of the country everytime he shoots his mouth off
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gonondo
Boring is a precisely word to describe this article...had she listened to the President's speech she would have safe herself from this nonsense article.Anyway she wanted to say nothing and she achieved that. Malema needs help and really help, the sooner he get it the better for his life.Report Abuse
cwaki
well said Redi !!!!!!!!!!!! but we really should not get used to such ill mannered people as leaders , it reflects bad on us a a country , the Anc should have dealt with Malema a long time ago , but as they say what goes around comes around , I'm glad the president had a tastes of Malema's venom , Malema must be taught RESPECT !!!!! as for him being "worthy" of inheriting the Anc , now that is an insult , the Luthulis & the Tambos must be turning in their graves as to what the Anc has turned out be .Report Abuse
jumaima
Politics need characters like Malema's who will keep politicians in their toes & spice up the mood in parliament, otherwise boring!Report Abuse
Mazakes
What really makes a good leader? The answer to this question is a difficult one. But I guess one might as well say that Juju in his capacity as a leader has done so well to date since he had managed to convince those that follow him to be loyal and able to exhalt his leadership.Having said that, it goes without saying that more often than not he has overstepped the line abd diverted from the principles of good and effective leadership. I refer to the leadership qualities that are enshrined in core values of "ubuntu" and Africanism: Respect, ethics, knowledge that one is who they are because of people around them, etc.
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Mazakes
Charecter defimation tatics, even to those you call your allies, is never a reflection of a good leader. Juju has a tendency of saying things that end up causing more harm than harmony. These leads to his charecter as a leader being questioned - his comments, to a certain extent, challenges the integrity of his own party, thereby encouraging doubts in the minds of ordinary people about the leadership of his own party. As a leader, one should always uphold the reputation, integrity and charecter of the organisation they represent. Well that's my take on leadership.Report Abuse
Msereza
i hate everything that these politicians are doing especially our president and Malema, everytime you watch, read or hear the news its all about what needs to be done and you never hear a successful story,our politicians are full of talk and no action, why mara why you dont stop talking and deliver cos if i look back into Mr Zuma's time as a prsident, all he has been doing is to talk,talk,talk and more talk without any action, please stop talking and deliver or else Malema must recall you and you know he can, ask the honourable Thabo Mbeki but atleast Thabo was doing something even if it was not enough...Report Abuse
Aubza
I still think that enough hasn't been done in terms of grooming the youth and setting up proper structures to build up the ANCYL, well it is under any reasonable doubt that any news about this ANC & its child ANCYL are now boring. We need progressive results out of those monies deducted from SA employees' salaries not corruption.Report Abuse