Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian

Unravelling the raving

2 min read
Court hears of Afrikaners’ pain over ‘shoot the boer’
Court hears of Afrikaners’ pain over ‘shoot the boer’

Last week Julius Malema had attendees at a gala dinner choking on their crème brûlée when he proposed a radical new plan to further the revolution.

It wasn’t his usual calls for nationalisation of the mines, and of Anglo American in particular, that got lips flapping. Indeed, Malema’s call for 60% of Anglo American’s wealth was just the warm-up.

The African National Congress Youth League leader — perhaps with an eye on swelling the ranks of the league — suggested that if people want to prevent the revolution from losing steam, they had better start making as many babies as they can. A City Press report said Malema told a hall full of listeners at the Ehlanzeni District Municipality: “Having babies is a revolutionary thing. You must reproduce!”

Malema’s populist rhetoric sometimes reflects the inner workings of the ruling party. At other times, his comments have the feel of an off-kilter character from a late-night comedy show, or a self-proclaimed activist pop star.

Earlier this month, the Guardian in the United Kingdom challenged readers to tell the difference between comments made by Charlie Sheen and Muammar Gaddafi. Now the M&G challenges you to see if you can spot the difference between the sayings of Julius Malema, 30 Rock character Tracy Jordan — a self-absorbed, bling-seeking comedian — and Steve Hofmeyr.

Who said what?

  1. “Yes, I am provocative!”

  • “Racism has nothing to do with it. To call me a racist is an insult. Incidentally, racists cannot be insulted by being called ‘racist’.”

  • “We are tired of a two-thirds majority. Our aim is a three-thirds majority.”

  • “The uprising will target white men and white monopolies. It won’t be aimed at white women.”

  • “You can’t fix this. It’s about race. It’s about man and woman. It’s about money.”

  • “Affirmative action was designed to keep women and minorities in competition with each other, to distract us.”

  • “Now I don’t want to be influenced by newspapers. I live amongst the people. I’m on the ground.”

  • “We may have fallen into the intellectual deep end here. And if you try to grab on to me, we’ll both drown.”

  • “Any overweight, power-drunk, capitalist institution like the media needs to be checked under all circumstances. This much we know.”

  • “The ideological Hate Universe you are creating is … a sad, far right remnant and nothing I voted for when I marched for a new, sane South Africa.”

    • Answers:
    ?????o? ????s ?01 ‘?????o? ????s ?9 ‘u?p?o? ????? ?8 ‘???l?? sn?ln? ?7 ‘u?p?o? ????? ?6 ‘u?p?o? ????? ?5 ‘???l?? sn?ln? ?4 ‘???l?? sn?ln? ?3 ‘?????o? ????s ?2 ‘u?p?o? ????? ?1

    So … what was your score?