Malema needs to help build, not destroy

12 May 2010 - 23:21 By Daily Dispatch
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Dispatch Editorial: South Africa yesterday woke up to the news that ANC Youth league president Julius Malema had pleaded guilty to a charge of contravening the ANC’s constitution by "behaving in such a way as to provoke serious divisions or a breakdown of the unity of the organisation".

The ANC National Disciplinary Committee then sentenced him to attending anger management classes for 20 days, paying a R10000 fine that will go towards a youth development project of Luthuli House’s choice, and issuing a public apology to both President Jacob Zuma and the organisation.



This relates to his public attack on Zuma whom he compared to former President Thabo Mbeki while addressing a media conference on April 11. This was after Zuma had rebuked him in public.



We welcome this ruling and so do millions of South Africans, even though it seems as if he has been let off the hook after the more serious charges were withdrawn. These included his public support of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF, his calling a BBC journalist a “bastard” and a “bloody agent”, and his singing “Shoot the boer” after it was banned by the High Court and the ANC.



If anything, the ruling shows that the ANC has now grown tired of Malema’s outbursts. Malema has increasingly been courting controversy since his election as the ANCYL president just over two years ago. What has worked to his advantage in the past, is that he had the backing of the ANC, which was always ready to jump to his defence.



While we are pleased with the ruling, however, we feel that the ANC, particularly its senior leaders like Zuma, should also take some of the blame. Not long ago, Zuma anointed Malema as a future president of the ANC and later asked South Africans to give him a chance as he was “a young man still learning”. This, while Malema was busy hurling insults, spewing venom and dividing the country along racial lines.



Without a doubt Malema is the most divisive leader in South Africa today and has done a lot of damage – not only to the ANC, but to the country as a whole.



One of the things he has to learn, is how to choose his words carefully. Malema once launched a stinging attack on Kwezi, the woman who had accused Zuma of raping her, saying she must have had a “nice time” because she had “requested breakfast and taxi money” in the morning. He later attacked his senior in the ANC, former Education Minister Naledi Pandor, saying she had “a fake accent”.



With this kind of venom, is he the kind of a leader that South Africa wants – now or in the future? A good leader is always civil to others, respectful, careful about what he says and does not use his tongue for harmful incitement.





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