Indubitably Malema’s lexicon and gratuitous use of the Race Card at every opportunity could certainly brand him as an uncouth firebrand. In his own way beneath the reckless populist does Malema represent an audacious savvy politician?
Most South Africans can readily recite their litany of examples of Malema’s uncouth behaviour or fraudulent actions. Amongst the one most quoted would be when he referred to Lindiwe Mazibuko as “Zilla’s tea lady.” Others might remember the incident where he cited Naledi Pandor diction as being un-African. In both these incidents, the recipient of his obnoxious comment was an intelligent, honest and respectable person not worthy of such opprobrium.
Yet others will recall his defrauding SARS whereas others might recollect his fraudulent contracts with the Limpopo Provincial Government but what most would not have any recollection of is how Malema managed to obtain sufficient votes to be appointed as President of the ANCYL.
Juxtaposed: Eviction Notice and Announcement of the Presentation by Julius Malema
In climbing the political ladder within the ANCYL, Malema used dubious methods at best to defeat them. His favoured tactics were to disband branches and even regions. If that did not suffice, he would expel his opponents on highly dubious and spurious grounds. As a wily politician, he brooked no opposition. He portrayed all the classical symptoms of the vain and paranoid dictator, fearful of the slightest sign of opposition or even being questioning.
Any one of these transgressions in my opinion would preclude him for high office but for all three he should permanently be debarred. None augur well for the future as in my opinion as a leopard never changes his spots. Ask those who supported Hitler in the vain hope that when he was in power he would renege on his outlandish beliefs in his racist tome Mein Kampf.
All that was missing was the high tea and the best china
The response of the audience at the Press Club Meeting at Kelvin Grove in Cape Town during the past week [Thursday 11th September 2014] has raised my concerns. Being the wily politician that he undoubtedly is, he moderated his image and stance to one of being all reason and light.
Just imagine this scene. Malema who wants to nationalise everything that white establishment has created is invited to address a largely white well-heeled crowd about the EFF and his plans for the future. Sartorially he would not compete with the besuited English liberal establishment as he was dressed in his trademark red overalls and beret. Furthermore as the audience would not be overawed by a cavalcade of expensive cars, he elected to arrive in a mid-size car without his usual entourage.
Clearly this was an unusual event and not an everyday sight. Many of the dignitaries were spotted snapping photos using their cellphones to capture this historic occasion.
The Saturday Argus summed it up as follows:
Amid the audience’s head nodding, laughter and applause, it seemed Malema hit all the right notes.
“You’re not as bad a guy as we thought. To listen to you is refreshingly lucid,” said a grey-haired man from the audience, saying Malema had “a jolly good sense of humour”.
That worries me.
The wily uncouth fraudster Malema has conned the audience with his explanations. Even his uncompromising stance on nationalisation which was explained to the audience did not disabuse them of his credentials. Instead it should have drawn gasps of disbelief or incredulity at his naivety and should have been lampooned instead.
Did Malema beguile his audience into believing that his norms and views of society accords with theirs especially as regards the issues of probity and management style? For if they had received a detailed expose of both, there would not have been a meeting of minds.
Or is the last laugh on the liberal white establishment at this meeting who came to assess Malema and handled it in the old English patrician tradition of APLOMB where discretion is the better part of valour?
Only time will tell.