The Big Read:Juju is a joke, not a leader

15 April 2014 - 02:00 By Justice Malala
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I had to laugh. There was Julius Malema, the "commander-in-chief" of the Economic Freedom Fighters, saying sorry again.

This time Malema was in Eastern Cape, sitting next to Epainette Mbeki, mother of former president Thabo Mbeki, and holding forth.

"I am very happy that I got the opportunity to say to my grandmother here that, whatever I could have said about her son, President Mbeki at the time . if I offended her and her family, I apologise and I am very sorry," he said.

Malema has been putting his foot in it and apologising since he crashed into our political landscape in 2008 when a bum-flashing mob elected him to the top position at the ANC Youth League.

In February 2009 he insulted the then education minister, Naledi Pandor, saying she must use her "fake accent" to fix problems in education.

The next day Malema was apologising: "I acknowledge that the remarks I made against you were uncalled for and might have disappointed and hurt you.

"I write this letter to unconditionally apologise for those remarks."

He went on to put his foot in it again and again, insulting and bullying journalists as he beat his hollow drum in support of ANC president Jacob Zuma. No one was spared his insults.

In March 2010, the Equality Court found him guilty of hate speech and discrimination after he claimed that Zuma's rape accuser had a "nice time" with the man from Nkandla.

Speaking at a gathering of Cape Peninsula University of Technology students in January 2009, Malema said: "Those who had a nice time will wait until the sun comes out, request breakfast and ask for taxi money. In the morning, that lady requested breakfast and taxi money. You can't ask for money from somebody who raped you."

In June 2011, 15 months after the Equality Court issued its verdict, Malema issued an apology and committed himself to paying the R50000 fine imposed.

This has been the story of the "commander-in-chief" of the EFF. One remembers the bullying and insulting of BBC correspondent Jonah Fisher for asking about where the money for Malema's plush house in Sandton (since seized) came from, and the savaging of opponents such as IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi (he was called a "factory fault").

Malema even apologised to South Africans, saying recently about his fervent support for Zuma: "We once more sincerely apologise for having given you a president like Zuma."

What will this "leader" apologise for next?

The problem with the brouhaha that accompanies the scandal-soaked Zuma is that it takes the focus away from a discussion about values-based leadership in South Africa. In the wake of the scandals of the man from Nkandla, we fail to discuss what leadership is - and what kind of leadership we want - even as the noise and fury of electioneering intensifies.

We should have these debates, because it is not just the misogynistic Zuma who deserves scrutiny. It is the leaders of all the parties that are asking us to vote for them on May 7.

One of the most frequent questions I am asked when I tell people that the ANC will comfortably win the election on May 7 is: Why?

Why will the ANC win despite its current leader being a mouse among the giants of leadership the party has boasted since 1912?

The answer is multi-layered, of course, but one of the reasons is that we continue to have an opposition whose leaders are uninspiring at best and downright fraudulent at worst.

What exactly makes one think that Malema would be a people-centred leader once he ascends to power? When he was the big cheese at the ANC Youth League he was the most arrogant, obnoxious, bullying, power-obsessed, insensitive and badly-mannered leader in the ANC.

He lived high on the hog and seemed to awaken to the plight of the poor only when he had to make a speech.

Do the masses who now proclaim him the saviour of the masses reflect on this? Do they think that he is being sincere when he rushes off to Nkandla to build a house for a poor neighbour of Zuma's - or is he, as usual, just scoring political points?

What kind of leader of SA Inc will he make? I think we know, for the history is there for all to see, just as we knew exactly what sort of disaster we were facing when Zuma walked into the Union Buildings in 2009,with his debts and scandals following him. The scandal of Nkandla is not a surprise.

South Africans should do themselves a favour. They should scrutinise the Malemas, Mamphela Rampheles, Helen Zilles, Mosiuoa Lekotas and Kenneth Meshoes of this election properly before rushing to proclaim their saintliness.

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