South Africa: Living in a gangsta paradise….Malema style

David Bullard wraps up the Malema situation in South Africa very well in this article. I tend to agree with him - Malema is way too powerful to be ignored and if his dream of nationalising the mines and banks comes true, then no South African - especially previously 'advantaged' ones - will be safe. Chances are their investments in their futures will be stollen lost. All countries have their problems - even Australia is going through a trying time - but I would rather be sitting in Australia than in a South Africa where the government acts with impunity and they have little Idi Amin running around, scaring everybody without suffering any consequences - just like Mugabage in Zimbabwe. Even the SA courts are afraid of him. The way he's going, he will soon be President to hoardes of angry, Black masses and then good luck to everyone still living there....

“Julius Malema’s a fat little man”. So says Alex Parker in his excellent best seller (50 People Who Stuffed up South Africa) before concluding that “Malema is a waddling stain on South Africa” and opining that he will soon be a mere nasty memory. Would it were so but judging by last week’s display of arrogance and armoury at court we shouldn’t write Malema off too soon.

His political future is as hard to predict as anything which involves that nest of vipers known as the ANC. But if his official political career does come to an abrupt end I doubt whether it will bother him very much. Last week he made it perfectly clear that he doesn’t give a toss for the rule of law by turning up at court with a bunch of heavily armed thugs. Presumably if the judge’s ruling isn’t to JuJu’s liking the order will be given to mow down all concerned in a hail of gunfire. The fat boy has supped with Mad Bob Mugabe and knows that this is Africa and you can only get what you want through the barrel of a gun. And the fat boy wants lots of things like more bling, more money, more respect and more power. Remember that old joke….what do you call a black man with a gun? Sir.

In addition to the show of firepower at court and the taunting outside the courtroom, the ANCYL (which is Malema really) also cleared up a few outstanding questions last week concerning the matter of nationalization. And the answer is…no, they hadn’t planned to pay for any of the industries they intend to nationalize. Instead, they intend to seize key industries like mining, banking and insurance and share the spoils.

Now it is possible, in the interest of a restful night's sleep, to dismiss this as extremely silly and unworkable but we have to remember that JuJu is a key player in the ANC and clearly there are many members of the party who are terrified of him. Who wouldn’t be terrified of a lunatic who surrounds himself with heavily armed men? The real problem is that nobody can say with any certainty whether the dreams of JuJu will remain dreams. It is now quite possible that this country could go the same way as Zimbabwe and become another basket case. When someone as stupid as Malema rises to a position of power and is allowed to spout such nonsense we should be a little bit worried. After all, there were plenty of Jews who didn’t take that nice Mr Hitler seriously until it was too late.

The fact is that, while many may see Malema as a buffoon, he is apparently destined for high office in a party that doesn’t have particularly high standards when it comes to matters of honesty and integrity. For the “get rich quick and bugger the country” short termists in the ANC, Malema is a dream come true. He will ensure that all his sycophants do very nicely thank you and he’ll silence his opponents. In fact, he already seems to have done that. Remember the claims last year in an investigative newspaper that he had R54 million in his current account? Do you recall hearing anything more about this astonishing claim? No, neither do I.

South Africa under Malema and his ilk is going to be a living hell for those of us who like to consider ourselves economically active. Once the banks have been seized and “nationalized”, all accounts in the names of people who are not deemed to be good, patriotic, revolutionary South Africans will be frozen and the proceeds transferred to the needy (i.e. the usual suspects). Those annuities that you took out on retirement won’t mean a thing and any existing law protecting you today will just be ignored. Malema will, after all, have installed right thinking judges in the courts.

People’s rights will simply not exist and the police will be free to crack as many craniums as they feel like without any fear of disciplinary action. The state of anarchy that Malema has been hankering after for so long (who still talks of the revolution 17 years after a democratic election for pity’s sake?) will allow him to do whatever he pleases.

You are quite at liberty to dismiss this week’s rant as hysterical and I hope you’re right. I also hope that Alex Parker is correct when he says that Malema will go the same way as Eugene Terre’Blanche. But I have a nasty feeling that what we saw last week is the future of South Africa. And if that isn’t a good enough reason to take your money offshore at the current favourable exchange rate I don’t know what is.

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