Same egos, same tactics, but now Zuma's ex-protege fights on the other side

President Jacob Zuma and Julius Malema are meant for each other. They may wish to wipe each other off the surface of the earth, but their similarities are uncanny. ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu asked: "Can you imagine Julius Malema becoming president of the country? Oh, dear God, may that day never dawn in our lifetime or that of our children."

Someone should remind him that the same invocation was uttered four years ago, when it was evident that Zuma was headed for the Union Buildings. We continue to live with it.

It is interesting that former comrades of Malema and Zuma have now oscillated like a pendulum, from one end to the other, putting themselves in two camps. It was not very long ago that the ANC accused Malema's critics of "Malemaphobia" and steadfastly stood by him. Even Zuma at one point thought he was a future leader of Anton Lembede's and Oliver Tambo's ilk. Not one ANC leader or member was mortified by the idea of Malema leading this country one day.

Now they want us to believe he is a monster whose diktats and pronouncements are contrary to the ANC's. But Mthembu can only articulate the position of the party. And therein lies the problem. Party members are passive and seem to find their voice only in the year of an election. Otherwise they are just happy to go along with the noise created by their more vocal mavericks.

It was only four years ago that Malema was unleashed on the public and used by the anti-Mbeki camp led by Zuma to spew long-held resentment against the ANC leadership of that time and state agencies. When did they decide that Malema is now intolerable, when all he is doing is carrying on the way he has been taught? And those who think Zuma has not steered the ship well - when did they decide he is not presidential material?

Julius has supped from his master's table and learnt how to whip up a crowd and appeal to his audience. While occupying the world stage at the UN on the same day as Malema appeared in court, Zuma must have had a jaw-dropping moment when he heard Julius and his sympathisers cry foul over a "political conspiracy".

Using his trademark middle finger to lift his glasses, I can see Zuma throwing a fit of pique and sullenly declaring, "That was my strategy; I did it first."

Malema's claim that his prosecution is political is really neither here nor there. The vital question is whether there is legal merit to the charges, and if there isn't, he has absolutely nothing to worry about. It is early days and his bravado is peaking. He has no fear of answering questions in court, so he says. Didn't Zuma also beg for his day in court to prove his innocence? And when it dawned, he tried every trick in the book to avoid the dock.

Die-hard ANC supporters conveniently reduce this to a battle between Zuma and Malema and are oblivious of their role in this saga. It is all very well for them to be flummoxed by Malema's utter effrontery and shake their heads at this man who dares to "insult" the president and the leadership of the ANC. ANC members who decry Zuma's leadership also seem to suffer from amnesia, like they were not there when he was elected.

Say what you wish about Malema, he is consistent, he hasn't changed. His rhetoric and insults have always been there. It is simply that his daggers are now pointed at different people, people for whom he was willing to die just a few years ago.

Those who raised their hands for "100% Zulu boy" must know that they also accepted his then Rottweiler, Malema. Zuma and Malema were a package. Even now they remain two sides of the same coin.

While Malema huffs and puffs, Zuma remains an adroit player, quietly executing his strategy. Sadly, regardless of who prevails, Mangaung will be the stage for gutter politics.