Is Julius a joke or not quite right upstairs?
There are many colloquialisms to describe increasingly erratic behaviour. The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English defines “crazy” as follows: “A person who engages in erratic or unpredictable behaviour.”
The Chicago Sun-Times in 1995 wrote: “Every character in this movie…is crazy as a bedbug, and none of them know it.”
Could these be appropriate descriptions of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and their “commander in chief,” Mr Julius Malema?
Mr Malema draped the Constitution round himself like an unfurled flag when he and the Democratic Alliance took the Nkandla matter to the Constitutional Court. For a moment, he looked like a constitutionalist and perhaps even a supporter of the Rule of Law. One marveled at the miraculous transformation. The context of this “transformation” is that something or someone is improved or made better, not the ANC meaning, which all too often is, “replace whites with blacks, preferably loyal cadres deployed by the ANC.”
The EFF reinforced the favourable impression when they called on the president to uphold and abide by the Constitution. They even referred to their own entitlement to its protection. For one heart-stopping moment, we seemed to have reached an important watershed. A delusional, self-aggrandising, semi-militaristic rabble seemed on the point of becoming a political party with a place in a constitutional democracy. But not for long.
First, the EFF declared war – again – on “white monopoly capital,” (whatever that might be). Presumably black monopoly capital is or would be just fine. Tenderpreneurs like some of Mr Malema’s friends in Limpopo are just great because they are black.
Then it reiterated its commitment to “taking our land back.” “Our” means blacks, as opposed to whites. Black = good; white = bad in the EFF lexicon.
They ignored the preamble to the Constitution, “We, the people of South Africa…Believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity.”
Clearly, the EFF forgot clause 1 of the Constitution, “The Republic of South Africa is one, sovereign, democratic state founded on the following values: … (b) Non-racialism and non-sexism.”
The land is to be taken away by the EFF from its current (white) owners without compensation and given to “our people” because it was stolen by whites.
What of the mines? They must be nationalised, also without compensation, because they were stolen from “us.”
The EFF has forgotten about clause 9(1) of the Constitution, where the Bill of Rights states, “Everyone is equal before the law and has the right to equal protection and benefit of the law.”
The EFF has overlooked clause 25(1) of the Constitution, “No-one may be deprived of property except in terms of law of general application, and no law may permit arbitrary deprivation of property.”
While some of us were busy writing that Constitution and reaching a national compact, Mr Malema was only thirteen years old. His contribution before that was to pull down posters of the National Party; hence, the delusional wanna-be soldier with the red-beret and the laughter-inducing faux military title, dying to be thought of as a military man heading up an army. But he did swear to uphold the Constitution when he was elected to Parliament.
One wonders how a person like Advocate Dali Mpofu SC, former close friend of Mrs Winnie Madikizela Mandela, former big deal at the SABC before receiving a multi-million Rand goodbye, and current prominent lawyer, can ignore the clear provisions of the Constitution. How does he allow his “commander-in-chief” to make a fool of himself by propounding racist and lying promises at odds with the Constitution, some of the provisions of which cannot be changed even by Parliament? Or is the violent overthrow of the Constitution a possibility?
One might have dismissed all the rhetoric as just cynical and silly war-talk by Mr Malema, uttered in the heat of the moment at rallies where cool heads do not hold sway, or even been amused by it. Until recently, that is.
Zimbabwe’s 36th anniversary was marked by a statement that the EFF regards Zimbabwe as an “inspiration.” That country and its leader, President Mugabe showed the way in land reform. It will be recalled that Zimbabwe’s stealing of land from farmers and redistributing it, not to ordinary people, but to the connected – politicians, soldiers, their wives and friends – led to an economic meltdown with hunger, unemployment and emigration for millions. This inspires the EFF.
Venezuela and the late President Hugo Chavez also inspire Mr Malema who visited that country to study the nationalisation programme. According to The Economist, President Chavez nationalised the oil industry, fired 20,000 workers and replaced them with 100,000 incompetent loyalists. Inflation in Venezuela is running at 720% per annum; the shops have nothing to sell; public officials may work on Mondays and Tuesdays only, with no ordinary services rendered for the rest of the week so as to conserve energy; and a currency officially pegged at 10 bolivares to the US dollar fetches 1150 bolivares to the dollar on the black market.
Inspired by Chavez and Mugabe?
Then came the Al Jazeera interview. Mr Malema coldly and in measured tones told the world the EFF was losing patience and that it was capable of and could take power using the gun. “Part of our revolutionary duty is to fight…the regime must respond peacefully and constitutionally to our demands.”
There you have it. The commander-in-chief holds the Constitution in contempt, except when claiming its protection, and will overthrow it by force when he feels like it. Crazy as a bedbug perhaps but no longer amusing. This delusional, hypocritical racist is becoming a danger to our constitutional democracy; he is in desperate need of a sharp lesson from the voters, the vast majority of whom want a peaceful, prosperous, democratic South Africa.
Douglas Gibson is a former Opposition Chief Whip and former ambassador to Thailand
