Julius Malema is White Inc’s biggest nightmare. He is black, basic education, opinionated, does not heed to white authority, unskilled, etc. This combination of attributes in a young black man generally scares white people. As to why, I wouldn’t say. So Julius rises to one of the most strategic positions in the ANC and owes no favour to any white person. If the latest reports in the newspapers are true, Julius is also corrupt to the bone and uses his wealth to further his political stranglehold on the organisation he leads. In a very short space of time he becomes powerful, too powerful some say, aided by the combination of wealth, patronage and over the top media vilification. He becomes a law unto himself within the ANC and the Republic. If he has taken a position, not even Cabinet Ministers can dissent because if they did, they are chewed up so fast they don’t know what’s hit them. Even Ministers that previously held the position he holds are not spared. They are ridiculed in public, their struggle credentials questioned and threatened with being overlooked at Mangaung. Even the President is not immune to this. Comments about his lack of education, lack of leadership and love of the female species are bandied about whenever he so much as frowns on a policy position or proposal from the ANCYL. So Julius has become a nemesis not only to the White Inc but also within his own party!
But I say we need him. Black people need a Julius Malema. We need a Julius Malema to say the things most of us including our leaders in government are afraid to talk about. We need him to remind the White Inc that patience is running out for the lack of economic transformation and land reform. We need him to defend the singing of struggle songs and for us to stop being apologists. You see the White Inc are trying to pull a Codesa all over again when it comes to issues of transformation and land reform among others. They are trying to maintain the status quo for as long as possible by stalling talks, implementing fancy and ineffective schemes and enriching only a few strategic blacks who will plead their case at the main table. We need a Julius Malema to make noise about this! If the White Inc was sincerely committed to transformation and land reform among others, a Julius Malema would not be forced to be calling for nationalisation and land appropriation. What we have seen for instance in the land reform arena, is the White Inc stalling, refusing to impart skills and demanding exhorbitant amount for claimed land. And when Julius calls for the appropriation of the land without payment they cry Zimbabwe.
Qualified black people are treated like dogs in the private sector and mostly overlooked for promotions. Young uneducated whites get ahead much easier than qualified hard working blacks. This is true. We need a Julius Malema to make noise about this and come up with drastic policy proposals that will scare the pants out of the White Inc and force them to act. Banks generally still still do not lend to blacks with the ease they do to whites and we do not see screaming newspaper headlines about this so we can only rely on a Julius Malema to speak against this practice. The kind of coverage that blacks get in the media is horrible compared to what whites get. When two planes carrying 13 white people go down we get updates by the hour from the media about rescue efforts plus two page spreads in the newspapers narrating the difficulties the families are experiencing, pictures of the deacesed and notes on their achievements and glorious lives. But the previous week, a taxi had collided with a truck on the N2 and all we got was that 14 died and the taxi was unroadworthy. That’s it! No obituaries, no stories of grieving families and children left without parents. We need a Julius Malema to tell the media that blacks are people too.
Our Julius though should, be an honest and hardworking individual with the best interest of the people at heart. He should exemplary when it comes to championing the policies of the organization, be steadfast in protecting it’s image and integrity, be respectful but firm in pursuance of his position. Our Julius, will put youth matters on the forefront of his policy agenda and work tirelessly in bringing tangible change in young people’s lives. He need not be highly educated but strive to better himself at the earliest opportunity. He needs to understand his role in the organisation and be accountable. He needs to be a true democrat and be tolerant of dissent and opposition. Lastly he needs to take the fight to the the White Inc! Does our current Julius fit the bill?
The Social Commentator 
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