November 11 2011 at 11:57am
IOL
Diehard supporter Golden Miles Bhudu was the first to arrive outside Luthuli House where the fate of Julius Malema and senior ANCYL leaders in the party was announced by senior ANC officials. Photo: Barry McCallum
It has been just more than a year since Julius Malema was last forced into a seven-hour disciplinary hearing, where he was found guilty of answering President Jacob Zuma back when the president rebuked him and told him to keep quiet.
Before this – in 2008 and 2009 – Malema had already gone into battle against ministers and Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe. But last year was the first time he had gunned for Zuma, and was seemingly punished.
It started in April last year when Malema visited Zimbabwe. Making friends with President Robert Mugabe, Malema came back to South Africa calling for a Zimbabwe-style seizure of mines and farms in South Africa.
Malema sent out a media statement praising Mugabe. His visit came while Zuma was trying to broker a political settlement in Zimbabwe.
A week later Malema threw a BBC journalist out of a press conference, saying he had “white tendencies” and calling him a “bloody agent”.
Zuma criticised Malema’s behaviour publicly, saying the way the journalist had been treated was unacceptable.
The next week Malema was hauled into the disciplinary meeting for bringing the government into disrepute. Malema faced three charges: his endorsement of Mugabe while Zuma was trying to broker a political settlement in that country, his singing of the song “Shoot the Boer” after it was banned, and criticising Zuma after Zuma publicly censored him.
Malema was found guilty of insulting Zuma. The rest of the charges were dropped.
Malema was ordered to make a public apology, he was fined R10 000, which he was meant to donate to a youth development organisation, to attend anger management classes and attend the party’s political school for 20 days. He was warned of suspension from the ANC if he offended again within two years.
The youth league said it would ask young people to donate money so that Malema could pay his fine because he had not acted alone, but on behalf of the league. Aside from his public apology, it is not clear if Malema carried out the rest of the punishment that had been meted out to him.
Malema in 2009 attacked then education minister Naledi Pandor’s manner of speaking. He said Pandor spoke with a fake accent. He was quickly made to eat his words, and apologised the next day.
“I made uncalled-for remarks about you, which were widely captured by the media. I acknowledge that the remarks I made against you were uncalled for and might have disappointed and hurt you.”
Malema has also clashed with ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe. Earlier this year, the youth league president said senior ANC leaders were trying to destroy him by disrupting the league’s elective conference.
Mantashe hit back, saying Malema was trying to create a scapegoat.
At Malema’s hate- speech trial, Mantashe told the Equality Court that the ANC was not protecting Malema.
Mantashe also stated in May that Malema had cost the party minority votes in the municipal elections.
Malema said before the elections that whites were criminals. Mantashe would not say, however, if Malema would be punished for this.
“People would be switched off by comments they feel are racist, but we are still too oversensitive,” said Mantashe.
Towards the end of last year, Malema launched attacks on DA leader Helen Zille and Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.
He called Zille a “racist little girl”. Zille hit back, saying he was an “uncircumcised boy” and was rude and disgusting.
Malema responded by calling Zille a “cockroach” who must be removed from power.
Vavi had previously made remarks lambasting Kenny Kunene’s parties, where sushi was served on the bodies of scantily clad women. Malema defended Kunene, telling Vavi to stop concentrating on successful black businessmen.
“We will never stop partying. We are young. It is our responsibility. We will never apologise for it,” Malema said.
He also said Vavi needed to be cut down to size.
Motlanthe then entered the fray, saying Malema could make his point without demeaning people.
But it has been his questioning of Zuma’s leadership which has landed Malema in the hottest water.
In March, Malema publicly questioned Zuma’s leadership and judgment. The ANCYL president accused Zuma of abandoning Nelson Mandela’s foreign policy principles by siding with the UN’s no-fly-zone resolution on Libya.
Last year, Malema was found guilty for implying that Zuma was worse than Thabo Mbeki.
In the past few weeks, the ANCYL made a public apology after Malema insulted Botswana’s government. It is for these comments that he has been found guilty and suspended.
Some of Malema’s memorable quotes:
* “You must never role-model a rich person who cannot explain how they got rich. In the ANC, we must not have corrupt people as role models. Corrupt means a simple thing – you can’t explain the big amount in your bank account,” Malema before an exposé on his lifestyle by The Star.
* “Those who own the means of production, mine owners in particular, and those who think the ANCYL will not support them for election and re-election into ANC leadership in 2012, have merged to discredit the leadership of the ANCYL,” reacting to reports that he lives a lavish lifestyle on a fortune made from Limpopo government tenders.
* “Nobody will tell me I stole from the poor, I have never done that.”
* “We know who receives brown envelopes where, who sleeps with who, who drinks with who until 7 in the morning, revealing everything,” on the media after reports about his lifestyle.
* “We will not be broken by newspapers. They just put my name to sell newspapers. The journalist faked my signature because they want to portray me as a bad person,” addressing members of the ANCYL during the 2011 local elections rally.
*”If I have done something wrong, President Jacob Zuma’s government has a right to arrest me. If I have done something wrong I must be prosecuted,” at the same rally.
* “We are being baptised with fire. The youth league will never steal from the poor because we are children of those who suffered under apartheid.”
*”The media will never win because we (youth league members) are encouraged by the spirits of our forefathers.
*”People of this country will decide what do with the profit. We want to start with mines, and the banks will be next.”
* “The question we should ask is who should provide services to the state if all black entrepreneurs who put up consulting and construction firms are going to be rubbished as inherently corrupt tenderpreneurs.”
* “Those saying we are criminals are not different from (former) president (Thabo) Mbeki’s government. Because president Mbeki’s government, when you disagreed with them, you were going to be investigated like a criminal.
* “Helen Zille is a political toddler.”
* “Those who left the ANC after stealing from us are corrupt, and that includes the arms deal.”
* “When a woman didn’t enjoy it, she leaves early in the morning. Those who had a nice time will wait until the sun comes out, request breakfast and ask for taxi money. In the morning, that lady requested breakfast and taxi money. You can’t ask for money from somebody who raped you.”
- The Star
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