South Africa Bulletin from the headquarters of TAU SA in Pretoria, May 10 2011:
A LUTA CONTINUA! MALEMA'S REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
Reverberations from the recent hate speech trial of Julius Malema, defendant, and TAU SA, co-plaintiff, have revealed an ominous prognosis for a peaceful future South Africa . TAU SA was part of the case because it represents the group that is most affected by Malema's "shoot the Boer" song.
On the face of it, Julius Malema has become the superstar of the masses - irreverent, racially indignant and well within the African political template of telling the crowds what they want to hear, whatever the merits of his pronouncements. His intemperate and ludicrous outpourings have however struck a chord, and have elicited the same reaction from the uninformed masses as do the rantings of Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe who, despite presiding over the collapse of what was termed the breadbasket of Africa, is still greeted with standing ovations when he travels to South Africa! Such is the logic of this part of the world, born of a racial resentment that blurs vision and skews reasoned thinking! The fact that someone like Malema can attract the media and crowd attention that he does should warn us he cannot be taken lightly.
Malema has all the makings of a demagogue - thoughtless of the feelings of others, contemptuous of differing opinions, and utterly confident in his ability to forge ahead on a wave of racial animosity that strikes chords among the masses. The 30-year-old ANC Youth League president whose constant singing of the "Shoot the Boer" song that has provoked the legal case against him, remains defiant, even triumphant. (Screaming fans mobbed him the street singing "my president, my president"! Others repeated the song "Shoot the Boer" outside the court, the very song that Malema is defending within the court.)
He arrived at court with bodyguards wielding semi-automatic rifles, and attendant police did nothing. It was up to the judge to remove the weapons from the court.
There appears to be not a shred of remorse, not an iota of introspection, within him. He is thus seemingly impervious to the thought that he may have hurt others, and therein lies his menace. Malema is part and parcel of the ANC. He is in effect speaking for South Africa 's governing party, the ANC, and his words have not been repudiated by president Jacob Zuma. Those who thought 1994 was the end of the revolution have now realized it was just the beginning.
NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION
What has emerged is his absolute devotion - if that is the word - to the National Democratic Revolution, in all its aspects. The press has been remiss in not accentuating this factor, instead focusing on his bravado and bluff, his antics, and even his gallows humour. He has been portrayed as a fairly harmless buffoon, as "jovial". One press report said he arrived at the court "relaxed and smiling". "It was his joking attitude that often had the gallery laughing", declared a journalist.
Plaintiff's evidence was glossed over, with some of plaintiff's legal personages ridiculed as "right wing", "lugubrious" and "heavy handed". One cartoon showed a smiling Malema mocking a caricature of the plaintiff's attorney, all safari suit, beard and glowering countenance!
Malema's hard core has been lost in the flurry of vacuous reporting and a flimsy narrative. The crux of the case centred around respect for one's fellow South Africans, and in particular the "Boere" - specifically the farmers of this country, a minority group of 0.1% of the population who, paradoxically, hold the key to food security and its corollary, political stability.
Urging supporters to "shoot the Boer" is, on the face of it, a suicidal act because it declares that this group whose farm murder rate is 700% higher than anywhere else in the world, should be wiped out. Malema's evidence, under oath, should be taken very seriously by South Africans. He is part of an ongoing revolution, he declared, despite the 1994 ANC takeover, and he has said that he will "kill for the revolution".
What does he want as a self-declared revolutionary?
All the ANC witnesses declared unambiguously that the revolution is not over because the goals of the Freedom Charter have not been attained. The struggle must continue, and a revolution is the only way for the masses to get what they want. This revolution - the National Democratic Revolution (NDR) - was communist inspired, and this is confirmed by Malema. Part of this revolution is an armed struggle. Was Malema prepared to instruct his heavily-armed bodyguards to shoot if he was mobbed outside the court?
LAND OCCUPATION
One integral part of the NDR is land ownership, and this aspect was highlighted by Malema during his evidence. As is the ANC's wont, Malema repeated the falsity that only 13% of the land is in black hands. (TAU SA and others have time and again quoted the 2001 Development Bank showing that 54% of SA's land is in the hands of blacks, coloureds and Indians. Add to this the land that has already been given to blacks under the ANC's restitution legislation, and the figure is more like 65%.)
Under oath Malema declared the Constitution will be changed so that land shall be expropriated without compensation if farmers do not make it "available". Zimbabwe is a democratic country, he says, and is an example of how his policy will run its course.
From his evidence and his pronouncements it is clear that he and his ilk hold South Africa's white farmers responsible for everything that went wrong in the past and that it is the farmers who must be held responsible for solving today's problems!
(TAU SA asks: what about the other 99.9% of South Africa 's white population who today live in security complexes with empty bedrooms that are not occupied. Read the Freedom Charter and draw your own conclusions!)
Nowhere does Malema even touch on the problems of food security, or the economic implications of a destroyed farming sector.
What is the connection between Malema's song, his attitude and speeches, and the high crime rate in South Africa ? The international organization Genocide Watch gave its opinion, and Malema was cognizant of this. Under oath he confirmed the country was already at Phase 5 towards a genocidal situation, where phase 7 epitomized anarchy and massacres. Are we sufficiently aware of and prepared for the ANC's and Malema's revolution and its ultimate goals?
We have learnt that dialogue with communists and those who use communism's ideologies is a complete waste of time. Communism uses dialogue as a means to an end - their win and their opponent's loss. Correspondence which TAU SA has sent to the ANC regarding matters for discussion has been ignored.
They are not interested in dialogue. They are interested in control, and this is reflected in their attitude towards the DA-run Cape Town municipality. The fact that it is a success is irrelevant - success and good governance are not the ANC's goals - power is, at any cost, even the cost of a broken and food-scarce South Africa .
(A point to ponder: If a white leader had continuously sung a song exhorting whites to kill blacks, the matter would surely have ended up in the United Nations Security Council for censure.)
If South African whites ignore Julius Malema, they do so at their peril. His threats to the plaintiffs that if they gave the ANC 80% of South Africa 's land, he would withdraw his defence and "the killing will stop" reveal an agitator of the first order. He is dangerous not because he knows nothing about governance or world affairs, but because his ignorance and vindictiveness mask a militancy and aggressiveness containing the kernel of another African catastrophe.
Issued by TAU SA, May 10 2011
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