Judging by the outrage expressed on radio and Twitter yesterday, it seems South Africa's elite were stunned to discover that Julius Malema was not a constitution-fearing liberal after all. The scales fell from their eyes after this statement by Malema: "We are not calling for the slaughter of white people, at least for now . The rightful owners of the land are black people. No white person is a rightful owner of the land here in South Africa and the whole of the African continent."From the surprise, hurt and "explanations" offered by radio talk-show hosts, it would seem they had all believed Malema was a card-carrying member of The Helen Suzman Foundation's black outreach programme.Well, no.Malema has always been an operator, a populist and an opportunist. When he stood on the steps of the Constitutional Court lauding it for its findings on President Jacob Zuma, he was not doing so out of a conviction that the constitutional order was sacrosanct.He was doing it because it was, for the moment, a great big weapon with which to beat his primary enemy, Zuma, about the head.Wait for the day when the constitution makes a negative finding on the EFF and you will hear a different speech, one about how it is a compromised relic of the "Mandela era" that must be defeated along with the rest of the "enemy". By enemy, Malema means anyone - or anything - that does not bow in deference before him, or at least grins along with him when he assaults the body politic.Malema's remarks that it was not time to slaughter whites - yet - are entirely consistent with his populism, which is his basic political instinct.To all of those who were, until yesterday, singing, "What a friend we have in Julius", think a little more carefully before you embrace all of Zuma's enemies.Spend some time trying to right our country's great social imbalances, which offer such rhetoric fertile soil...