Malema downs yet another ANC president
His manoeuvres had a decisive impact on the way Zuma fell from power
YOU must give it to the young man from Seshego. When he gets time to write his memoirs he will not be exaggerating when he makes the claim to have disposed of two South African presidents. Who will ever forget that historic moment when, after the ANC NEC had taken the decision to recall Thabo Mbeki, Julius Malema rushed to the media and proclaimed that “Mbeki is gone” before the ANC had issued a statement about Mbeki’s recall? That’s how the young man wrote his name in the annals of history.
It must be remembered that although Fikile Mbalula was the president of the ANC Youth League before the Polokwane conference, Malema, a mere secretary of the ANCYL in Limpopo, was campaigner-in-chief for the Zuma tsunami that trounced Thabo Mbeki in 2007.
Last Tuesday, under pressure from the opposition that threatened to collapse the State of the Nation Address to be delivered by Zuma, the Speaker announced an indefinite postponement of Sona. It was a great victory for Malema and the opposition. Never in the history of South Africa had the official opening of Parliament been cancelled. At this stage, even pro-Ramaphosa ANC leaders did not want Zuma to deliver the Sona.
The greatest fear for the ANC was that should parliamentary developments lead to the sitting that would entertain a motion of no confidence, the ANC leadership would not be in a position to prevent their anti-Zuma members voting with the opposition, as some did in the last one.
History will record that the fall of president Jacob Zuma on Valentine’s Day in 2018 was the result of a variety of factors and forces, colluding to bring to an end a ruinous presidency. The DA spent over R10 million in 10 years to ensure that corruption charges against Zuma were reinstated.
The party did everything in Parliament, in the streets and in the courts to remove Zuma as president. In all fairness, the DA played a not-so-insignificant role in the fall of Zuma. You can’t take that away from blue shirts.
“Our mission since we formed the EFF was to remove Zuma as president and that we have achieved. Our next mission is to get him to jail,” thundered Malema a day after Zuma’s fall.
One of Malema’s obsessions has been to remove Zuma from office after their fallout that led to his expulsion from the party. Malema still believes that without him, Zuma would not have ascended to the presidency of the party in 2007 and of the country in 2009.
He still harbours a grudge against Zuma for his expulsion from the ANC. The fall of Zuma on Valentine’s Day therefore represents an important victory over Zuma. Revenge is sweet.
From the time the 25 members the EFF took their positions in Parliament in 2014, they made it abundantly clear that Parliament would not be the same again. Unconventionally dressed, the red berets turned Parliament upside down and always had a special treatment for the president every time he visited the House.
Who will ever forget the now famous chant “pay back the money” every time the man from Nkandla addressed Parliament? The EFF launched the most robust and belligerent campaign against a sitting president in Parliamentary history. The pomp and ceremony of the State of the Nation address turned into a war zone in which the boisterous red berets bravely fought the might of the state.
With this onslaught by the EFF against the state president, more and more apolitical South Africans developed an interest in Parliament and politics. It got so bad that once my sister told me that during Sona she only watched “The EFF Show”, after which she would retire for the night. She cared little what Zuma had to say after the reds had rendered their performance.
It was indeed Thuli Madonsela and Julius Malema who raised the consciousness of all South Africans about the monumental corruption of Nkandla through a public protector’s report and the EFF’s antics in Parliament.
Malema went further than his famous theatrics by taking Zuma to court and winning a historic victory in 2016 when Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng came down hard on the president for failing to “uphold your oath of office”.
This was a great victory for the EFF and the people of South Africa. In all this, the ANC unashamedly stood behind their thieving leader until the highest court in the land ordered him to “pay back the money”.
From then onwards the anti-Zuma sentiment grew dramatically in the country, culminating in the national #ZumaMustFall pickets, rallies and demonstrations in the aftermath of the the axing of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan last year. The spark to all this national conflagration was the work of the Commander-in-Chief and his small red army. Without this, arguably, Zuma would still be in charge today.
To prove how Malema virtually disposed of president Zuma, when the ANC had failed to persuade him to resign voluntarily, only the EFF had the first parliamentary slot to move a motion of no confidence. Tired of the Zuma shenanigans, the ANC, through chief whip Jackson Mthembu, was compelled to negotiate with the CIC to amend the EFF motion to remove Zuma. There was no “we can’t vote with the opposition to remove our own president” on February 14, when new ANC treasurer-general Paul Mashatile rallied all ANC members to support any motion of confidence against their discredited and recalcitrant president. Who led them? The EFF!
From whatever angle you look at it, Malema’s masterful manoeuvres had a decisive impact on the way Jacob Zuma fell from power. There is no doubt that under Malema, a decadent and factionalised ANC is being outwitted by a tiny, youngish, resourceful and agile EFF. Without Malema’s tactics it is doubtful if Jacob Zuma’s career would have ended as dramatically as it did on lovers’ day.
OUR MISSION SINCE WE FORMED THE EFF WAS TO REMOVE ZUMA AS PRESIDENT AND THAT WE HAVE ACHIEVED. OUR NEXT MISSION IS TO GET HIM TO JAIL