Thembile Ndabeni
Julius Malema, the Commander-In-Chief of the EFF, must take the blame for the poor performance of his party.
The party revolves around him, and he is a demagogue presented by his party as a demigod whose colleagues carry water and other stuff for him.
When attacking President Cyril Ramaphosa for consulting his party for collective decision-making, he said he does not do collective decision-making, but makes a decision alone as a leader.
Then, the question is, what is the meaning of leadership or a leadership collective? At times there is a difference between being the leader of a party and being the leader of the government.
In government or state, you are not compelled to consult, but when it comes to the party, you have to.
In fact, even with the government or state, your decision is informed by the position of your party or a collective.
That Malema owns the party is also confirmed by some of the genuine people who left the EFF. His leadership in Parliament was disgusting. Raising issues in a radical manner is not synonymous with being rude and disruptive. His rudeness sometimes goes with racism. Not every white journalist or political analyst who comes from the West is an imperialist or an agent of imperialism.
At the National Results Centre, he wanted to get physical with a journalist. He said he would teach him how to live among people. Even if you are provoked, there is no way a leader of a political party should make physical threats, especially to journalists.
Anyone who threatens others or gets physical with people does not deserve to be a head of state.
Malema does not want to be cross-questioned and the fact that he is a dictator is a testimony that he would be worse if he was president.
His arrogance and intimidation are demonstrated in his facial expressions and ill-tempered attitude.
The title Commander-In-Chief (CIC) is the cherry on top and more evidence of him being a dictator. CIC of what? Where did he go through military training? Even if he could have had military training, this is a civilian government and not a military junta.
This CIC claim and deception must come to an end because, by the way, he did not win the election. He came with hopeless results, single digits. He does not deserve to be referred to as a CIC.
In fact, this thing of CIC is a deliberate attempt to impose him as the most fearless, radical, revolutionary leader in the history of South Africa.
What contribution did he make in the Struggle and when? He claims to have become involved in the Struggle at the age of 9 – chosi ntsomi (fairy tales)! No child that can be involved in a struggle at that age. People involved in the Struggle were sober and ensured children’s safety was not compromised.
In 1990, the age he claimed to be involved in the Struggle, it was the beginning of negotiations and clearly he was not in a negotiating team.
Mimicking Peter Mokaba later when toyi-toying and presenting a posture when singing about Solomon Mahlangu does not make him a person who was in the Struggle. He must stop telling this myth and fantasising with his “servants” who worship and deceive him.
His rhetoric is presented with ill temper, vulgarity, and lies.
With all fairness, the EFF is the biggest loser and not the ANC, as he claims. The ANC lost power to form a government alone but did not lose its number one spot. It is still the biggest party.
The EFF lost its position, from three to two, overtaken by a new party, the MK Party. The worst is losing to the extent of being a single digit.
Malema is carried by emotions and deceives himself by using the attendance of supporters to rallies. The last thing he must learn is to be a shrewd politician and diplomatic instead of being controlled by emotions and anger, and showing off.
Where is the proof to his claim that the EFF is the only authentic voice of black people, especially the working class and the poor?
* Ndabeni is a former history tutor at UWC and a former teacher at Bulumko Senior Secondary School in Khayelitsha.
Cape Times