Let’s be clear: Malema is no martyr for economic freedom. He is not a selfless hero, as the ANC Youth League, who turned violent outside Luthuli house on Tuesday morning in their support for Malema ahead of his disciplinary charges by the ANC, would make him out to be.
Malema is a calculating politician bent on self-enrichment. And he knows the high drama of today’s news — as brought to us by the league — will detract from that. Again.
When it became increasingly clear that the ANC was going to deal forcefully with their controversial youth leader, I could almost hear the collective sigh of relief from the middle class.
With good reason. Malema accused white people of being criminals who stole land, setting back the patient and tireless reconciliation work of those such as Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu by years.
He scared off international investors — and locally — with his talk about mine nationalisation. What was initially a favour to his ailing mine owning buddies to score easy government bail-outs got picked up by poor and disenfranchised youth across the country under the rallying cry of “economic freedom in our lifetime”. He offered the get-rich-quick “solution” of mine grabs, over the far more difficult but endurable work of better education, creating jobs and making life easier for entrepreneurs and small business owners.
And then there was the devastating news of alleged systems of corruption put in place by Malema and his cohorts which, as City Press editor Ferial Haffajee put it, were “so sophisticated and entrenched in the state that it makes even a dewy-eyed patriot want to cry”. Little wonder since he acknowledged playing the tenderpreneur game since high school.
But this is not the reason he’s going to be castigated by the mother body today. No, it’s not his misogynistic and racist statements, his allegedly systematic use of corruption or his dubious economic policy. He’s being taken to task over some comments made about our neighbouring country Botswana.
Ostensibly, that is. Because the political gossip says that Zuma is finally dealing forcefully with his problem kid to secure himself a second term, along with ANC secretary general and youth league nemesis Gwede Mantashe.
If nothing else, it’s a neat illustration of the self-interest principle as illustrated by the father of free market economics Adam Smith.
“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest. We address ourselves not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantages.”
And this, despite all the comradeship and amandlas of the ANC, is what Malema’s disciplinary hearing is about: good old self-interest.
If Zuma really cared about Malema’s wrongdoings he would have reacted to the far more immediate and worrying news of alleged tender manipulation and bribery running rampant in Limpopo, which is fast seemingly becoming Malema’s personal fiefdom.
But the disciplinary hearings have strayed far from the hard and awful facts of that case, and dealt with the more nebulous concerns of “sowing division” within the ANC.
Malema knows this. If he’s going to go down, it will be as a noble hero of the people: a victim for the cause of economic freedom. And all off-key notes about illegal self-enrichment will be carefully silenced.
That much was evident at the league’s surprise press conference at Luthuli house on Monday, ahead of a show of support by league members that turned violent on Tuesday. He masterfully played the role of the self-sacrificing champion, approaching death for the sake of his people.
But then Malema refused to answer a question on whether he would take the City Press to the ombudsman for stories about his personal finances and the Ratanang Family Trust. His response: “I’m not going to say anything on the Ratanang Family Trust. You need to move with the times, we’re with a new [story] now, the disciplinary.”
And in one swift move, he has wrestled the news agenda into place: making sure that the public focuses on what he wants them to.
Meanwhile, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela lacks the funds to investigate the corruption claims against Malema, and another critical issue regarding the youth leader drops off the agenda while we’re all distracted by the people throwing bottles at police and Malema’s posturing about how the league’s policies and ideas will live on.
Let’s try not to get distracted this time around. Let’s keep the main issue the main issue: Malema’s blatant wrong-doings in business dealings — not the political soap opera manufactured by the ANC and the league. This drama may be full of sound and fury, but in the long run, it signifies very little.
- You can read Verashni’s column every week here, and follow her on Twitter here.
For more news and multimedia on ANC Youth League president Julius Malema click here.
