Malema's folly: There is nothing injurious or incongruous in the vision of black economic freedom in this life time
Gorge Orwell rightly said that: All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome.
In my opinion that urgency of economic transformation can never be postponed, what we can postpone is our own understanding and acceptance of what needs to be done.
I read with intrigue Helen Zille's piece on those of us, black and white, who remain victims to the system and therefore defend their weaknesses through racism. I agree with her on the need for all of us to begin to take the responsibility for creating the future we desire. Clearly it is time that us blacks to shed our past handicaps and take responsibility for creating the future that we desire.
On that point, I would therefore speculate that Helen Zille would support Malema, a person who has decided not to play victim to the past but to take the responsibility of influencing his environment to create the future which he desires which is economic freedom in this lifetime. The same cry, I believe, applies to the rest of Africa were multitude still play victim to the past even including leaders such as Mugabe who, still to this day, blame colonialism for the country's current economic problems.
I have said it before that there is nothing injurious or inappropriate in the vision of black economic freedom in this life time for without it our country will remain polarized in all fronts. We therefore need to embrace this vision promote it.
In my view the only difficulty that I have with those that seek to lead, is their sincerity and authenticity. One cannot plead to represent the interest of the masses while blaming politically one's conspicuous consumption on the capitalist economy as Malema did.
This reminds me of the times Mugabe held his political rallies in the past where he would arrive in a French made Alouette helicopter and be driven in a British manufactured Land Rover only to rubbish the British in his fiery speeches. There has never been any authenticity and Africans in general are getting smarter in that they are quick to see how sincere our leaders are and by their deeds. I think we are very wary of so called leaders who continue to lead ostentatious lifestyles while claiming to be leaders of an economic revolution for the masses.
Malema's second mistake was articulating a "solution" to the economic problem whose consequences or benefits pose a significant threat to capital and the established political regime. As Niccolo Machiavelli said "There is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, more dangerous to manage than the creation of a new system. The innovator has the enmity of all who profit by the preservation of the old system and only lukewarm defenders by those who would gain by the new system
This holds true for any significant socio economic changes such as nationalization or land expropriation. One must never forget that the oligarchy that we currently have in this country is made up of the ruling class in partnership with capital and to change that would require a revolution or tyranny. Mugabe has tried it and we can see the consequences on how the economy has been devastated by those who had vested interest in preserving the ownership of land by a few.
The exuberance of youth is at most times a handicap when it comes to politics and maybe it's a good thing for him to retreat and reconsider a more effective means of addressing the issues that are politically expedient to discount for now.
Vince Musewe is an economist and you may contact him on [email protected]
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