Fading to obscurity or sinking to oblivion: the fight to stay relevant
Comrade Sipho Hlongwane. Yes you @comradesipho, with your skepticism about the relevance of Julius Malema and idea that he has reached his political expiry date or end of political shelf life. Let’s talk.
What would you have people do? Read about the good deeds of zuma day-in and day-out or have a fair and balanced view of the state of the ANC and country? It’s a chess game between Malema and the man – let each party make moves and then bask in the glow of the publicity of those moves.
I say to thee then Sir, buy The New Age newspaper or watch and listen to bias media like SABC who won’t even touch Malema or report on him unless it’s something that casts him in bad light. Continue treating him as if he has leprosy: do not touch or burn him as if he is a witch.
Why don’t we just ignore the problem child? Yes, good idea! Just ignore the “problem and inconvenience” until it disappears.
Your article published on dailymaverick.co.za displays obvious signs of right-wing forces influence. It is appalling to see a comrade we often regard as open-minded using his influence to push monopoly capital’s agendas and tendencies.
It is even more worrying when said comrades drive fucktionalists propaganda to ban the radical voices within the ANC.
Reading Sipho’s article is like watching Fringe’s (a popular US sci-fi series) title sequence which has imagined bizarre “fringe” occurrences “reanimate Malema’s political corpse”, time paradoxes, transmogrification, etc. No doubt this article was inspired by the one written by the honourable comrade Zama earlier this month.
Every generation needs a new revolution, said Thomas Jefferson who continued to say, “Experience hath shown, that even under the best forms (of government) those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.”
Every revolution and struggle needs a face. Apartheid’s was President Nelson Mandela. Economic Freedom struggle has sadly been bestowed upon Malema. Rare and unfortunate as it is to use those two names together on a sentence, it is important to remind you that when Madiba was labeled a terrorist and sent to fade to obscurity and perhaps die at Robben Island, comrades didn’t tire of creating and singing songs about him or/and lobbying for his return.
Newspapers kept him relevant. The fight for abolishment of apartheid raged on for years. The attempts by the Nats to silence those voices failed because comrades remained resolute, unperturbed by violence or killings. The comparison may seem unfair but it is very relevant and fitting because Zuma’s rule is nothing more than an apartheid incarnation which uses the same tactics to eradicate the voices that speak up against the tyranny, corruption and incompetence of zuma and his cronies | both in the party and in government.
Malema shows necessary dissent and courage; willing to be rubbished with insults by the likes of Zama and Sipho for the cause. While others cozy up for jobs and afraid to speak up – someone needs to champion the campaign against the removal of the rot that eats up the ANC and seeks to abuse state resources for personal protection against prosecution.
I recently posted that the biggest mistake the ANC did was making individuals The Party. ANCYL has similarly done that. Malema, in carrying out the league duties bore the brunt of the elders’ anger and was singled out as the instigator for actions on policies set by the league. Suggesting that Lamola is toothless or the league’s plans died with an individual are crazy. Those ideas live on despite them.
Malema is being cast as an egotistic maniac, a dictator in the making following the footsteps of the likes of Mad Bob Mugabe, and someone who wants to cling to power or media spotlight. Even those who report on him are seen as trying to breathe life into a horse whose last kick was almost a year ago. Nauseating nolstagia.
Even President zuma dismissed utterances by Malema as irrelevant this morning during his interview on 702 but maintained that there is still a potential leader who needs molding in him. This is where it begins: spotting this potential and nurturing it. It is a big mistake to brush off the man and label him “unimportant”.
Why is Malema still newsworthy?
He may not matter to you. He doesn’t have to. Do you know why we voted zuma into power in 2007 in Polokwane? Because he was the only one who was brave enough to stand against Mbeki. With Mangaung only 4 months away, agains someone needs to stand against zuma – publicly and during the day. So far no-one has done it except Malema.
The ANCYL has long established itself as the vanguard of the working class, the poor and the jobless. This has landed it into a great deal of trouble. We’ve been reduced to a desk somewhere at Luthuli House guarded by Ronald Lamola or Kenetswe Mosenogi. Articles such as yours, Sipho, are not helping. They ensure that the voices that seek to speak for the people are silenced.
What you need to condemn is what people report on about us or me. “Malema goes to a wedding and gets hit by a bottle” is not newsworthy. Criticise the standard of journalism. Reproach their angles rather than the man they report on.
The ANC doesn’t make Malema relevant. Think Dr. Mamphela Ramphele – is she relevant because she is ANC or because her social commentary and campaigns are relevant? Let’s cast a stone against one’s ideas and not personally attack an individual.
