I GUESS it doesn't take a lot to charm students these days.

That's what Julius Malema apparently managed to do when he spoke at the University of Stellenbosch recently, the Rand Daily Mail website reported.

I'm not saying Juju doesn't know how to charm people. Love or hate his politics, but there is no denying the man has a way with words.

What he said to these young, knowledge-hungry kids though, was less than impressive.

He compared the colonisers of Mzansi to thieves who steal a car, pimp it and then demand to be paid for the improvements when they return it to the rightful owners.

"That is what they are saying about our land: that there is investment, so you cannot just take without paying. Why should we compensate for stolen land?"

I have to wonder, though, if this is the right analogy to make.

Is South Africa - or Africa as a whole - a pimped-up car, or a skorokoro? The country doesn't look very pimped to me.

Take Eskom for example. The chiefs over there are supposed to provide us with power, but they seem too busy making bad deals and writing one another big bonus cheques to worry about maintenance.

Of course, that is only one example.

The point is that if Mzansi is a car, then I think the workshop didn't do a great job of pimping it.

It's more like the guys there all grabbed their panel-beating hammers and moered the hell out of the poor thing.

After blowing the engine, pulling out the sound system and wiring and replacing the wheels with ones from a bicycle, they pushed it outside and said: "Sorry about the seats, but it was cold outside last night and the dog didn't have anywhere else to sleep."

Malema also reportedly said that the liberation movement lied to us.

"We were told that once we had a black president we would live like white people," he was quoted saying.

"Our struggle has always been that we want to live like whites and live with them."

This is news to me! Juju should know that he's speaking for himself because I've never wanted to live like white people. Imagine the only song you're capable of (badly) dancing to is Nkalakatha. No thanks!

I'd much rather live like an African. And this is what everyone worried about colonialists and compensation and our national skorokoro should be focusing on: finding African solutions to our problems.

It's pointless trying to take everything the whites made (or stole) and carrying on with it. If their way of doing things worked so well, why aren't they still running the place?

WE need to figure out how we can build a country that combines economic freedom and prosperity with African values and respect for our traditions. It's not good enough to grab a piece of land and move into a white suburb.

Maybe that makes some people feel like they've "arrived", but it's not enough for me. What I want is for a white leader to stand up one day and say: "What we want is to live like black people."

That's what we should aim for. Living well is, as they say, the best revenge.

How do we achieve that? We've got to put our minds together. If you, my dear readers, have any ideas about this, please send me an email. If I like what you say, maybe I'll discuss your idea next week.

At the very least I'll have a whiskey in your honour.

Until next time, salani kahle!

) Tell Mr Potatoes what you think: [email protected]

This article first appeared in the Sunday Sun.

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