What you might not have known about the Malema effect

Julius Malema expelled from the ANC

The last nails of the casket of Julius Malema's political career seem to have been hammered and all that is left is for the ANC to bury its wayward son. His foes are probably celebrating and breathing sighs of relief, while his diehard fans strategise on what to do next. Friend or foe, have you stopped to consider the not so obvious ways in which the era of "Malemarism" changed the world?

First of all, news bulletins and newspaper headlines became something of a national interest. It is without doubt that his feather ruffling comments, uncouth outbursts and verbal assaults on journalists lured many to take a more active interest in following the news. Stop and consider how many school children might have benefited from improved literacy levels, thanks to always reading articles, tweets and status updates about Juju. While his personal endeavours in the matric examination room were not exactly successful, it is very possible that Juju has single handedly assisted many students to read and therefore has helped to boost their literacy.

Needless to say, our "Dear Comrade" managed during his tenure as South Africa's chief entertainer, to create a boom in the media and entertainment industries. Where would comedians like Trevor Noah and Loyiso Gola be without the rich comical fodder for their shows? Would the likes of Third Degree presenter Deborah Patter have enjoyed high ratings, were it not for their interviews with the likes of Malema? Think as well of the job opportunities created for journalists, photographers and news readers. Imagine the high sales of newspapers giving the latest scoop on this "champion of the poor," and you will realise how the news and entertainment world might be about to hit a slump! Even party and event organisers are likely to weep at the loss of their main crowd puller at their functions.

Speaking about industries and job creation, the legal and law enforcement industries could also be adversely affected. With the departure of Julius, a time will come in the future when the Hawks will be hard pressed to find other dubious tender deals and family trusts to investigate. His security entourage will soon have to hang up their dark suits and dark glasses, or else look for employment elsewhere. The lawyers of pressure group Afri-Forum are probably biting their nails, wondering if they have lost the lucrative clientage of Afri-Forum and other civic groups engaged in legal battles against the axed ANCYL leader for his hate speech.

On the economic and political front, what is to become of Floyd Shivambu, Sindiso Magaqa and the rest crew that rode on the Malema band wagon? Through dubious dealings with Malema, some of these so called “youth” have been able to secure lucrative government tenders and live the high life under the pretentious title of “entrepreneurs.” Some thought they were climbing the political ladder as they piggy backed on Juju. Is it back to the drawing board or on to the rubbish heap for these ambitious men who have just had candy snatched from their mouths? Who knows, they might just be forced to do the ghastly; an honest day’s work and display basic manners!

As you either bemoan or celebrate the the ANC’s axing of Malema, you must admit that many moons from now, the world will look back and say: "Hate or love him, Juju was a character and a half whose name shall be etched in the history books!"

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Mines minister on radio reminds us of Animal Farm & Michael Jackson's virginity

As I listened to South African minister of mines, Susan Shabangu, proudly declare that the government is soon to venture into the mining sector through a government owned mining enterprise, the SA fm presenter asked the question that was also on my lips at that time. Is this not the nationalisation that the ruling party’s youth league has long been trumpeting about? Even though this was an audio interview, I could tell just how the question made her squirm as she vehemently denied that this was a nationalisation launch pad. According to her this was just a simple empowerment initiative that “had long been in government’s plans, even before the nationalisation debate ever began!”



Believe me when I say that the last time that I heard someone squirm like that on air, was when Michael Jackson was bluntly confronted by Orprah about his virginity status. One could also say that she responded in the same way a “well-bred” lady responds soon after hearing from a ghetto-rough suitor in the most unflattering language, how he wants to have his way with her! Mass media has a way of making people uncomfortable and red in the cheeks I must say. Maybe a media tribunal or two is what the doctor has ordered to whip these naughty journos into line?



Well that is another blog post altogether. My point here is that while I listened to the minister and after her, an apologist from the state owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), sugar coating this latest initiative with glossy predictions of how the currently exploited masses will be empowered with a rewarding stake in main stream mining, something in me made me want to retrieve my dusty copy of Animal Farm. I found myself in need to do a revision lesson of the novel with my English class. I do not why that happened and what the SA fm interview had to do with this sudden urge; it really is a mystery to me. As usual I entrust you, the reader to shed some light on this rather baffling occurrence

Come September, we might finally have to take Malema seriously

So the truth is finally out, Nationalisation is on the ANC agenda, if reports in the South African Sunday Times are anything to go by. Quoting Julius Malema the issue tells us that the ANC Youth League have successfully placed on the agenda of the party's September National General Council, the issue of a government take over of mines as well as land reform along the lines of Zimbabwe.



Shame on those of us who ever doubted Malema's insistence that Nationalisation was part of the ANC's plans. At times his statements contradicted those of his boss, South African president, Jacob Zuma. On more than one occassion, JZ has gone to pains to allay investor fears that nationalisation of mines will take place or that a chaotic Zimbabwe like land reform programme will ever occur in South Africa. Even when Malema jetted off to Venezuela and then Zimbabwe to learn the ropes from his Marxist leaning peers, we convinced ourselves that he was on a solo megalomania driven mission.


Now the cat is out the bag and the fact that this controversial and potentially detructive idea is being toyed with at the highest party level can only confirm that Juju and his Youth League lieutenants are the only ones frank and brave enough to admit to the nationalisation agenda. It could also be a deliberately planned move to use the Youth League to test the waters and kick start the agenda while the rest of the party sits innocent like in the sidelines and claim that it is Youth League policy and not the official stance of the party. Whatever the case is, maybe it is high time that we began to look at Malema from a different angle. The man might actually be the only truthful reflection mouth piece of ANC policy. The September tete-a-tete will be the decider as to whether we finally take Juju seriously or not.

Drama and more drama on the news

For the past two weeks or so, I have been in my hometown, Bulawayo spending time and catching up with family and other folk. Since most of my time is spent in South Africa, I decided that for a change, I would watch the news on the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), just to see if there is now greater objectivity in the reporting since the inception of reforms by the Zimbabwean unity government. This action by me raised some eyebrows from family members. Why?

Well those of you who live in Zimbabwe or have been there within the last decade will testify to that fact that in most urban homes where there is a TV set, there is usually a satellite dish and some form of satellite decoder. Of course only the well off subscribe to DSTV, but even those who cannot afford DSTV have invested in one of the free to air decoders that enable them to view the SABC channels, France 24, Sky News and a host of other freely available international channels. All this is because they are sick of the biased, raw deal that they receive from the ZBC. My switching to ZBC (a.k.a Dead B.C) therefore was bound to have raised some eyebrows.

Well I was in for a surprise. I had hoped to see local news coverage that would enable me to gauge if the news is still dominated by Pro Zanu-PF propaganda and anti MDC bile. Instead it seemed South African news had followed me into Zimbabwe, literally and figuratively. Literally by way of the ANC Youth League motor mouth Julius Malema being in Zimbabwe at that time. He was shown in Harare, wining and dining with Absalom Sikhosana, Supa Mandiwanzira and other big shot Zanu (not-so-youthful) "youth leaders".

There was Jules, touring the Heroes Acre shrine and heaping praise on the "success stories" of the new Zimbabwean farmers who took over farms from evicted commercial farmers. I wondered if he knew that those farms that he visited were run by the wealthy politicians with the means to be successful in their farming ventures. Was he at all taken to visit the many other farms that stand bare and depleted, having been acquired by poor war vets with no farming credentials or capacity? What I have said and many others have said was confirmed; that the ANC led South African government is biased towards Zanu PF and are therefore not neutral brokers of the unity government.

Then there was more headline news, this time reports that the leader of the South African white supremacy group- AWB, Eugene Terreblance had been murdered on his farm. Again Malema rocked up, this time refusing to comment on the murder and accusations that his hate song "Shoot the Boer," influenced the murder. He pleaded ignorance about the murder, insisting that because he was in Zimbabwe, he could not comment on events taking place in South Africa.

Later on, on my way back to South Africa, I read that when he got back to South Africa, Julius had more to say at a press conference about how the ANC will never listen to the MDC and how wonderful Zanu-PF and Robert Mugabe are. He also insulted and booted a BBC journalist out of the press conference for reminding him that he lives in the very affluent area of Sandton that he negatively associated with the MDC in his negative speech. I guess that should be the way he feels and behaves, seeing as he has learnt a lot from Zanu PF and its allies.

I also got wind of the story about my former high school classmate Chris Maroleng, now TV anchor and host on South Africa’s ETV. He had to handle a fierce row on his Prime Time news spot. This was after one of Terreblanche's AWB allies almost physically assaulted one of the other participants on the heated news interview that dealt with Terreblanche's murder and race relations in South Africa. Well thank goodness you have over the years put some flesh on your body, Chris buddy, you wouldn't have had the stamina to block and reprimand the would-be assailant!

Talk about a week of drama, tragedy, action, rhetoric and more drama. In a way the questions that I had about the ZBC were not fully answered but for the past few days, whether one was watching ZBC, SABC, E-News, reading the Sunday Times or The Chronicle, it did not matter. The news was all the same, and the key word was DRAMA!

Julius Malema - The Last King of the Amazon

So the infamous Julius Malema has been found guilty of hate speech by the equality court for comments he made about Jacob Zuma’s rape accuser. He said that she enjoyed the act, hence the court has told him to unconditionally apologize and pay a fine of R50 000. Will this be a deterrent for the foul tongued motor mouth? I hardly think so, R50 000 is small change for this young and wealthy "revolutionary." Recent revelations exposed that he has allegedly earned millions through tenders awarded dubiously to companies linked to him.

Last week's racist utturances at a University in Johannesburg show that Malema is not the least worried by legal implictions of his continuos hate speech. His song that urged his student audience to "Dubul'ibhunu" (Shoot the Boer) have sparked another legal response from a civic body. The ANC although admitting that Malema must be treated of his verbal spasms, stills feels that there is nothing wrong with singing a song that is part and parcel of the glorious history of the ANC struggle. The party argues that even white ANC members such as Joe Slovo, sang the song in the days of the struggle.

My question is this: Is Malema’s megalomaniac struggle the same as the struggle of decades ago, before he was born when his forebears were being chased off their land and facing the most horrible of abuses? While it is true that back in the day, most of "Ambhunu" were seen as the guardians and proponents of a sick, oppressive regime, is it fair in this day and age to still label them as such? Granted, there are still many white racists out there who will never accept blacks as human beings, let alone equals, but there are also Black, Asian and Coloured racists in our midst. Surely Malema as a national figure should be singing about "Shooting any racist," or is he scared that this will be tantamount to shooting his own brains off?

One shudders to think of the course of national destruction and division that this young man is headed for. Sadly the powers that be see no evil and besides the occasional half hearted frown, they say and do nothing. If he is not roped in, many will fall helpless victim to his venomous speech and ideologies. We have seen such man made tragedies occur before in Africa and beyond and as long as fifty thousand rand slaps of the wrists are all the action that can be taken, South Africa is set to become another statistic in the scroll of tyrannical regimes. Idi Amin one of Africa's most psychopathic leaders said he was the Last King of Scotland, who will JuJu eventually be, the Last King of the Amazon?