Julius and the Malemas
The use of the term “Economic Freedom in Our Lifetime” has absolutely nothing to do with the attainment of economic freedom in the lifetime of the youth, the ANCYL’s core constituency. I even suspect that the phrase was coined by som PR company for it’s catchiness.
It seems the renewed passion that Julius has for the economic emancipation of the youth comes only after he has allegedly amassed millions himself while feigning poverty. Nothing wrong with amassing wealth by the way, but his is reportedly ill gotten. Something really sick with one positioning themselves as the champion of the poor while they are reportedly plundering the state themselves. Stealing from the very same people they purport to be fighting for. This, unfortunately, is what we have become accustomed to from leaders of the ruling ANC.
What Julius is engaged in is nothing but an exercise in self-preservation. He learnt that from the best though, one Gedleyihlekisa Zuma.
Don’t get me wrong, we are in desperate need of economic transformation and we are sitting on a time bomb. Julius isn’t the cause of that ticking time bomb but the White Inc and Government are. This then gives space to Julius and the Malemas to play in and confuse desperate poor people by bringing a false hope of imminent economic emancipation.
If Julius were serious about economic freedom for the unemployed youth he wouldn’t be organizing fruitless marches and mass actions. He wouldn’t be mischievously using the plight of the poor to fight for his political life within the ANC. If he were serious, he would be directing all this war talk to the youth themselves to go back to school, to do anything to be economically active, to stay away from criminal activities and substance abuse. He would be directing his anger towards the likes of SADTU for being an impediment in our education system, White Inc for resisting change, Government for lack of service delivery and so on.
What Julius is not telling the millions of young people is that economic freedom comes with responsibility. You can’t fully enjoy the fruits of such economic freedom unless you have prepared for it by getting an education (unless of course you are closely connected to the ruling elite).
What Julius isn’t being honest about is that the mines he wants nationalized will need to be managed by someone. He also omits to tell us how each one of us will benefit. You see, Julius sits on the highest decision making body of the ANC and we haven’t heard of much evidence of him fighting tooth an nail there for economic freedom. As part of the ANC NEC, he takes ownership for all it’s decisions, even those he personally disagrees with. Once the decision has been taken, he is part of it. It is rather disingenuous of him then to come out into the public domain and say the ANC has sold out. If it did, the he also did. If he contends that he didn’t then he should have resigned as ANCYL President and from the ANC NEC. For as long as he holds that position, he is part of the problem.
Problem is that Julius and his cronies have a very inflated sense of their importance within movement and by extension, government. This they got from how the ANC’s current leadership which condoned his behavior and lack of discipline.
Zuma himself must take responsibility for the mess that is Julius and the Malemas. When it suited him, he used them and when they started embarrassing the ANC and the country he turned a blind eye.
Julius and the Malemas do not own the ANC. No one does. They do not have monopoly over the fight for the realization of all NDR goals. The whole movement does. They will however, learn the hard way that you can’t use people’s needs, desperate needs, to fight your own narrow political battles. He is, for now, surviving on borrowed heroism.
The Social Commentator 
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