The 19th of August 2011. This was the day it all changed. Whether it changed for better or worse, only the future will reveal. On this day, Julius Malema told a packed press conference “The ANC Youth League will also establish a Botswana command team which will work towards uniting all oppositional forces in Botswana to oppose the puppet regime of Botswana led by the Botswana Democratic Party. The BDP-led Botswana is a footstool of imperialism, a security threat to Africa and always under puppetry of the United States”
This statement was too much for the ANC, read Jacob Zuma, who had up until then done nothing to stop Malema’s mouth from shooting off in any direction it felt like. They had stood by and watched while he sang Shoot the Boer, called Lindiwe Mazibuko “the Madame’s tea-lady”, accused the supposed victim in Zuma’s rape trial a liar, openly supported that despot extraordinaire- Robert Mugabe, and called the country’s white population thieves and murderers. But now Julius had gone too far and was hauled before a disciplinary hearing.
The reasons for Zuma sitting on his hands are no secret. Julius had stated in Polokwane that he was willing to die for Zuma. The president knew he had Malema and the Youth League’s support, and that was all he frankly cared about in his fight for a second term as his party’s, and the country’s, leader. This however is no longer the case. Malema it seems has rethought his pledge to put his life on the line for JZ and now Zuma needs to get rid of him, and quickly.
The Youth League has said that the disciplinary hearing is nothing more than a political ploy. And they are right. The leadership conference of the ANC is less than a year away and Juju has built so much support over the last few years that it is certain that whichever candidate he backs will win. Zuma knows this is no longer him, and the only way to stop this happening is to accuse Malema of bringing the party into disrepute and either have him expelled from the organisation, or demoted to a position where he can no call the shots. And let’s get serious, it’s not like he doesn’t have any ammo in which to use against Wee Julius. Every time the buffoon opens his mouth he brings both the ANC, and more importantly the country, into disrepute. The question on everyone’s mind right now is what is going to happen next?
The situation right now bears a striking similarity to that of 2007, where embattled ANC leader Thabo Mbeki was losing support faster than a girl who has misplaced her Wonderbra, and was in the middle of a bitter power struggle with his estranged deputy, our very own Jacob Zuma. Which reminds me, have you ever heard of a power struggle being described as anything but bitter? They two go together like booze and ciggies. Anyway, Mbeki needed to do something to reassert his control and the opportunity arose when Zuma was accused of corruption. Mbeki fired him, and we all know how that panned out. His plan backfired horribly. He underestimated Zuma’s power, was himself fired in Polokwane and in no time the country had a new president.
In a few days Malema’s hearing will be over (who am I kidding, this is the ANC, we’ll be lucky if it’s over by Christmas) and then the real fun will begin. Will the ANC default to its usual position and do nothing? Will they decide to act out of character and actually fire someone for bringing the party into disrepute? If so, what will Malema do? Knowing him, he will not go down without a fight. He will take down as many comrades as he possibly can, Zuma being target number one. They political commentators said before Polokwane that it was the most important period in our country’s political history, and they were right. But Maungaung is going to be much, much more important. The future of the party, and of each and every one of us, is going to be affected by what goes down in Maungaung (see what I did there?). According to the Mayan calendar, 2012 is supposed to be the end of the world. They may well be proved right.
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