The imminent removal of Julius Malema as ANC Youth League president, I hope, represents only the purging of a problematic individual and not the silencing of vibrant young voices.
If Malema is expelled (or suspended, or whatever) from the league, it will no doubt send a chilling message to all other arrogant youths who hitherto thought they could get away with pretty much whatever they wanted to. But I am of the school of thought that the youth must be allowed to be young and vibrant. They should be free to question, criticise and learn.
Seven years ago, then-ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe remarked while addressing the 60th anniversary of the league that “the ANC Youth League is there to adopt radical, militant positions that the ANC can only contemplate — Youth must never be paralysed by fear. The role of youth is to respond radically and sharply, but with an understanding of the bigger picture.”
I fully align myself with those comments, which were made when Malema was a small-time player in Seshego, Limpopo. We must hope then that those who are planning to rid themselves of motor-mouth Julius are genuinely concerned that he is much more damaging to the national discourse than the nation can afford.
Clearly, it is easy to make some kind of case for Malema to answer given that he has antagonised almost all sections of our society and many would be happy to see his back. Even the composition of the disciplinary committee is, in my opinion, constituted of people who harbour strong opinions about him — although I suspect that even if a different disciplinary team were selected, it would still have people on it who Malema has pissed off either individually or as one of a group of people. As Malema himself said of former ANC president Thabo Mbeki when he was facing the chop: “He is going, he is going, he’s gone.”
Malema is a goner too, but I dread a youth league leadership that resembles that led by Malusi Gigaba. He was more of a school prefect than a member of a students’ representative council. Gigaba, who led the league until 2004, was so cosy with Mbeki that he saw his role as shutting up the likes of an uppity Cosatu, which was in the early stages of challenging Mbeki’s leadership.
Gigaba denied us the dynamism and vibrancy of youths who continually prod a complacent old leadership and keep them on their toes. We do not need a youth league that behaves likes the youth wing of the Inkatha Freedom Party, which is so compliant that it has been accused of behaving as if it had been appointed by IFP president Mangosuthu Buthelezi.
The same can be said of the Democratic Alliance youth structures, which we hear about only when they are elected and are generally absent from public discourse.
The ANC Youth League was the only alliance structure bold enough to point out that President Jacob Zuma was led by the nose by the European superpowers when he voted at the United Nations in favour of Resolution 1973, which, it has since become clear, was intended to effect regime change in Libya. Support for the resolution was inimical to ANC policy. Hence Zuma has spent the past few months trying to claw back and compensate with critical comments for what was an ill-conceived judgment on the part of our government, which could have abstained from voting, as India and Russia did.
The league was also correct in pointing out that the African Union has been clueless and hopeless in pushing the African agenda since the departure of former president Thabo Mbeki. We need a youth league that radicalises the debate about economic emancipation and shakes us from out of our comfort zone.
Of course, many have argued that it is not so much what they say but how they say it that leads to these kinds of charges. But we must be careful that the big men of our politics do not dictate the nature, content and tone of our debate.
Many will say Malema was long deserving of some kind of censure, and it is probably true, but we must be careful that the big men who fear criticism and want to hold on to their positions do not silence the youth league first and then find ways to manage the rest of us in the media, the judiciary and civil society. We must be careful of what we applaud today. It could be coming our way soon.
For more news and multimedia on ANC Youth League president Julius Malema click here.
