Political analysts there are speaking openly about Malema doing to President Zuma what Zuma did to then President Thabo Mbeki, namely, depose him as head of the ANC and then replace him as president…
Yet all indications are that Zuma is becoming sufficiently wary of Malema’s mushrooming popularity and commensurate political ambition that he’s reportedly looking for ways to keep him in check…
Apropos of this, I fear Malema would do for South Africa what President Robert Mugabe has done for Zimbabwe. That is, of course, unless Zuma remains power hungry enough to “neutralize” him, which I’m betting is the case.
(Julius Malema: President Zuma’s mini-me, The iPINIONS Journal, August 18, 2011)
Every one of my South African friends bought into the prevailing view that Malema, the firebrand leader of the ANC Youth League, had acquired so much wealth and power while retaining such popular support that the ANC would not dare discipline him “for bringing the organization into disrepute”.
In fact, he had become in South Africa like the bully in high school who instilled fear in students, teachers and principal alike. Malema clearly behaved like a bully, and the ruling ANC treated him as such.
More to the point, all of my friends accepted as fait accompli that he would do just as I indicated in my quote above: depose Zuma as head of the ANC and then replace him as president. This is why they thought it was naïve and uninformed for me to bet so publicly that Zuma would neutralize Malema.
Well, I won.
For here, in part, is the reason the party’s disciplinary panel proffered on Thursday for suspending Malema for five years:
(His) careless, negligent or reckless pronouncements and utterances were a deviation of established and ongoing ANC policy and had the effect of embarrassing and bringing the organization into disrepute within and beyond the borders of South Africa.
(Reuters, November 10, 2011)
Malema is expected to file a pro forma appeal, but anyone who knows anything about South African politics knows that this suspension will effectively end his political career. Not least because he’s still facing a battery of corruption charges related to the dubious origins of his massive wealth, which will likely put him in prison before his suspension expires.
Mind you, this is not to say that the country will fare much better under the continued leadership of Jacob Zuma. In fact, having repeatedly warned that he too would end up doing for South Africa what Mugabe has done for Zimbabwe, all I can say is that he is the lesser of two evils. This after all is why I called Malema Zuma’s mini-me….
Rabble-rousing trade unionists (COSATU) and unreformed communists (SACP) have turned the ANC from a governing coalition into a band of pillagers. Therefore, Zuma enlisting them to intimidate his critics, like cartoonist Zapiro, should serve as a dire warning of what South Africa will become under his leadership.
(“Zuma issues fatwa against political cartoonist Zapiro,” The iPINIONS Journal, December 22, 2008)
Related commentaries:
Julius Malema … mini-me
Zuma issues fatwa…