Malema thrives on confrontation

The self-styled commander-in-chief of the EFF, Julius Malema, has just ratcheted up the already uncertain stakes in the build-up to the 2019 general elections. Malema, the street-smart politician he has proven himself to be, might often be guilty of bending the conventional rules of rationality in his public utterances, but he invariably does so with an end goal in mind.

His briefing this week on sensitive issues will have caused far more than just ripples in a number of areas that would far rather have continued in calmer pools of existence.

Leaked portions of a report by Busisiwe Mkhwebane named Absa, who took over Bankorp in the ’90s, accountable for the repayment of R2.25 billion. Despite assurances from former Reserve Bank governors of the stature of Tito Mboweni to the contrary, the so-called lifeboat afforded Bankorp through a financial bailout on bad debts, Malema again accused the bank of impropriety and threatened action in a time frame to be decided on by the EFF.

This is hardly surprising, given that assaults on “monopoly capital” remains one of the cornerstones of EFF party policy. Putting the touchy subject of the lifeboat front and centre both goes to keeping the issue on the boil and to a reaffirmation of Malema’s image as a man of the people.

Malema, who was a powerful president of the ANC Youth League before being expelled from the party in April 2012 and forming the movement he now heads in July the following year, knows exactly what makes the ANC tick.

And more than likely has inside knowledge of where more than one skeleton is buried. So, expect further broadsides to be launched across the bows of the country’s political and business leaders. Malema thrives on confrontation.