League backs Malema and Shivambu - Politics | IOL News | IOL.co.za
Comment: This is a battle of brains. And from my small corner as a mere citizen who nonetheless has a weakness of cultural fondness for the ruling party ANC (seeing that my ancestors were involved in the founding of this great organization), all I can say is MAY THE BEST FIGHTER WIN.
For that matter, one Mr Justice Malala (a political commentator rather than a judge) encapsulates my viewpoint in an article written as follows (and quoted word for word):
It would be very nice indeed to think that the ANC leadership decided to charge the party's youth league leader Julius Malema out of a love for order and discipline in the party.
It would also be very nice to think that the ANC leadership is united behind the decision to bring Malema before the party's disciplinary committee.
But thinking along either of these lines would be wrong.
Two themes run through the rise of Malema since his chaotic, dodgy election in Mangaung in 2008.
The first of these themes is the succession battle in the ANC.
It is the battle to replace Jacob Zuma, who was seen in 2007 by many in the ANC as useful merely for building a coalition to unseat Thabo Mbeki and frustrate his ambitions of running South Africa from Luthuli House as a third-term ANC president.
The second and interconnected theme is the contestation among those who would succeed Zuma and their ability to use the youth league's loud voice to either position themselves for power or ridicule and frustrate others who wish to be elected to Zuma's position.
From the onset these two themes - coupled with the projection, if not flaunting, of a corrupt, avaricious culture of "it's our turn to eat" - have dominated Malema's policy.
Simply: When the youth league says it wants policy change, it largely means it is flying a kite for one or other individual or it is creating a platform to oust Zuma.
This is the context within which the ANCYL under Malema must be understood. Youth issues have clearly not been its priority. Instead, enrichment of cronies through bodies such as the National Youth Development Agency -- a body apparently established to dole out jobs to ANCYL luminaries and their companies - has been the league's main focus.
So why has Julius Malema been charged? It cannot be for his ill-considered and ill-timed call for regime change in Botswana. That call was made by a full sitting of the league's national executive. The charge won't stick and amounts to victimisation of Malema if he is charged alone or with just the top six leaders of the league. All league leaders should be rapped over the knuckles. The ANC cannot fire the whole league leadership and so won't be able to get rid of Malema.
The rest of the charge sheet is a cobbling together of uncomfortable truths for some in the ANC leadership. What's so wrong about saying Mbeki was a better leader than Zuma? It only hurts because it smacks of truth.
Malema is being charged because a group of ANC leaders has realised that he threatens their incumbency of the ANC national executive committee. For Zuma, who is now regularly ridiculed and heckled by Malema and his yes-men, the young man has become the most direct symbol of the challenge to his leadership.
After a farcical disciplinary hearing last year in which Malema toyed with ANC leaders and their disciplinary committee, Zuma returns to the same arena. Has he overplayed his hand? Will he be outfoxed by Malema again?
In the public mind, this is a big gamble for Zuma and ANC Secretary-General, Gwede Mantashe. If Malema survives these charges they should start packing their bags: the Mangaung conference may be held without them. Zuma may be bundled out of office before his term is up, and Mantashe will be pressured and bullied into walking out to tend to his plot in the Eastern Cape.
The joker in the pack is who in the ANC NEC will back Malema. Zuma's charges against him last year unravelled when a member of the ANC's top six, treasurer-general Mathews Phosa, decided to act as Malema's representative and counsel. The upshot was that the party's core was seen as divided on the issue, and the experienced lawyer in Phosa ran circles around some of the charges.
This time, those who do come out in support of Malema will be making it clear to Zuma that they are against him. Their future fortunes will be tied to Malema's political survival or demise on August 30.
So these charges are not about discipline. They are about who assumes leadership of the ANC at the Mangaung conference in December 2012.
If Zuma succeeds in unseating Malema then he will have gained real advantage in his bid for a second term as ANC president. Should Malema outfox Zuma, though, then after the president's departure we should get ready for a new battle between those who would succeed him.
The next 16 months will be bumpy. There will be a lot of noise and angst and tears.
It will be just like the run-up to the Polokwane conference of 2007 when Mbeki was shown the door. There will be some big losers, and some bruised and scarred winners.
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