The month of June is important in the calendar of South Africa. Not only is it the month in which the comrades marathon is run, it is also a month of celebrating youth day and commemorating the 1976 uprisings. Popularly known as the "youth month", the month of June is particularly important in building the political heritage of young people as it symbolizes the political courage in which young people rose against the apartheid political system.
Just as in 2011 as the month of June will usher the new local government leadership after the Municipal elections on May 18, it will also be the month in which the ANC Youth league will host its all important elective conference in Ghallagher Estate, Gauteng.
This conference is crucial for a number of reasons. It takes place on the eve of the 100 years of the ANC's existence. More importantly, this conference must become a violence-free conference since the "buttock displaying" & rowdy conference in Mangaung in 2007. Since then, it is interesting to observe that all other gatherings of the Youth league were characterised by violence & disorder, with police having to be called to maintain law and order. So has been the story of the ANC Youth league since Julius Malema became their president.
The leadership character of the ANC Youth League has lately been defined by rowdiness & illogical pronouncements that have only damaged the political credibility of the ANC.
The country & the ANC cannot afford another Malema at the helm of the Youth League going into the future. Julius Malema has been more than just an embarrassment to the ANC. Right from his "Kill for Zuma statement", his many court appearances & until his latest appearance before the ANC's disciplinary hearing, Malema has been a negative brand.
The ANC's disciplinary process has since directed him to a political school. He has not bothered to do. There are reasons why Malema won't do so. Firstly, the boy thinks & believe that he is entirely untouchable & beyond reproach. In every school, there must always be a teacher and a learner. And as matters stand, there is no ANC leader that can teach Malema political discipline. This is because Malema has no respect for the ANC President & sees every senior ANC leader as his equal.
Generally allergic to reading & writing, Malema's illogical comments have been very costly to the ANC. He has also made it difficult for the ANC to convincingly penetrate virgin political markets during the May 2009 elections as he made it difficult for himself to avoid litigation by the Afri-Forum and constitutional advocacy groups.
Through and through, Julius clearly demonstrated complete lack of understanding of the value system that underpins our constitutional democracy. The platform provided by the ANC YL Presidency has become bigger than his comprehension. He thought that singing the loudest makes him an intelligent leader. The challenges facing the youth in South Africa are dynamic, complex & require visionary guidance & mentorship instead of good political slogans.
Malema has instilled a sense of arrogance within the youth league. Under his guardianship, a culture of inter-political violence & intolerance consolidated in the youth league structures. It began in his home province Limpopo, where the legitimate leader Lehlogonolo Masoga was not only looted "power", but was subjected to all forms of political castigations & expulsions. Since then, many others who dared challenge his leadership have fallen prey to his endless draconic disciplinary processes.
At the helm of Malema, youth league members turned against each other like wild dogs in the jungle. They even assumed a strange culture of booing people Malema regarded as a threat. This is a situation that was never foresaw by founders and legendary leaders of the Youth league such as Anton Lembede, Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo. Not even Peter Mokaba that Malema is fond of imitating, would have approved this shenanigans.
It's even difficult for one to remember the good things that the Youth League has done under Malema. Except for the "ONE BOYFRIEND ONE GIRLFRIEND" campaign, which was in fact conveniently launched as an indirect attack on Zuma's polygamous affairs, the ANC YL has engaged in no substantive, real & tangible political or even social campaigns.
Notwithstanding the merits in the call for Nationalization, Malema's undiplomatic manner of raising this has even confirmed suspicions that he is being used as an instrument by those who need state bail-out through nationalization.
Conference delegates in June must put an end to this Malema's growing legacy & madness.
Once deposed, what should happen to him ? Should he be dumped into the dustbin of history? Should all of us move on with our lives as if he never existed? Should we ignore the damage he has caused the movement and the alliance structures ?.
As the delegates do their part in removing him, we as erstwhile leaders of the ANC youth league & the current leadership of the ANC have the political responsibility to build this young boy.
One way or another, the ANC has made Malema. It must rehabilitate him. He is after all a product of an ineffective political cadre-development system that has not sufficiently prepared young cadres for bigger roles. Instead of preparing future political leaders, the ANC became pre-occupied with factional & materialistic battles that sought to accumulate problematic consequences for the movement.
Delegates to the forthcoming conference will be faced with the most critical & difficult responsibilities, as they have to ensure that this conference is first and foremost chaos-free. They particularly have the opportunity to re-write the pages of history by electing new, sound, grounded & visionary leadership that will take the ANC Youth league to greater political heights.
Through their choice of leadership, these delegates must have the collective wisdom & courage to separate between what is fashionable & what is sustainable. What is factional & what is constructive. They must know the difference between rhetoric & logic, separate between populism & realism by electing the leadership core that does not rise to stage populism, but has the decisive comprehension of what issues confront young people in South Africa. They must refuse to be bought liquor, & bribed with money.
Already, lobbying is on to have Lebogang Maile, the current ANC Youth league provincial chairperson rising to this important challenge of replacing Malema. If things were normal and the political tradition with the ANC structures was properly observed, Lebogang Maile should have been the president in the very first place before Malema.
A stranger to controversy & a product of humble political beginnings, in Lebogang Maile, the youth league has hope of better political sanity. Arguably one of the youngest MECs (As Sports and recreation MEC in Gauteng) Maile has a resounding legacy and will ensure that the youth league become what it has always been meant to be - the political preparatory school of the ANC.
In electing Maile, the youth league has an opportunity to witness political sobriety & decisiveness of a youth leader of modern times. Lebogang provides better political content, clarity & understanding of the critical issues that confront young people in South Africa than Malema. Not only has Maile got the political pedigree that surpasses Malema in many respect, he also has the appetite for knowledge, he has the courage to listen, learn & articulate issues with better fluency. Young people need this.
The Youth in South Africa requires not just intellectual mentorship that resonates with rationality; they also need inspiration on a number of socio-economic issues that has a positive impact on their daily lives. Maile has the track-record to advance that.
It is also very likely and possible that, depending on how the voting machinery is oiled many provinces may still decide to fail to see the bigger political picture and repeat the same mistake of electing Malema, in which case because they are young lions and vulnerable, we may have to find it in our wisdom to forgive these delegates for this error in judgement. However and unfortunately, history will not forgive them and will judge them harshly.
A lawyer by profession, Thabo Masombuka is a Senior Empowerment Manager at the dti. He writes in his personal capacity as an ANC activist and former ANC Youth League leader.
Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter
