New kid on the block punches above his weight
Finish Line | As South Africa goes to the polls in its fifth general election since 1994, the major contenders can look back on triumphs, setbacks — and a campaign that may have won a newcomer a spot on the podium in record time
THE atmosphere on campus was tense, with the police and Julius Malema’s bodyguards forming themselves into a human wall to separate his supporters from the rowdy group of ANC supporters who had occupied the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Howard College Hall.
Like the commander-in-chief he fashions himself as, the Economic Freedom Fighters leader had taken personal charge of the situation — barking orders to police and followers alike. He was determined to show that even here, in KwaZulu-Natal, the home province of the man he seeks to unseat — President Jacob Zuma — he is a force.
The ANC crowd, clad in yellow party T-shirts featuring Zuma’s face, were determined to prove the opposite.
Realising that the ANC crowd would not leave the hall, Malema ordered those who had come to listen to him to follow him out of the venue.
A good number streamed out of the hall. Among them was a group of five young men, none of whom looked a day older than 20. “Julius, can I have that Gucci belt?” shouted one. Malema did not respond. The stylish young man repeated his plea and the EFF leader turned to look towards the group with a knowing smile and raised his thumbs to make a “sharp, sharp” sign.
The young men roared with excitement. “I came here to check out his attire,” said one. “This guy really knows how to dress up well.”
Realising the further damage this incident could inflict on his image as a revolutionary messiah for the poor masses — so soon after a story about his penchant for Louis Vuitton shoes had made headlines — an EFF official tried to persuade this journalist to ignore it.
Here was a demonstration of the deep-seated contradictions that have characterised Malema’s election campaign.
Expelled from the ANC in 2011 and driven into what his enemies had hoped would be the political wilderness, Malema made a dramatic re-entry into the political arena by launching his own political party in July last year and campaigning on a radical political and economic platform.
Throughout, he has sought to portray himself as a militant leftist in the tradition of the late Burkina Faso military ruler, Thomas Sankara, or Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez.
But among those who attend his rallies are many who, like the young men at the university, regard him as just another “celebrity” — a charismatic politician whose speeches and lifestyle provide them with much entertainment.
Malema sees no conflict between his image as a crusader against the wealthy classes and his huge appetite for the finer things in life.
“Our mission and our fight to remove you from the shacks is not going to be determined by what we wear,” he told a crowd in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town.
“Clothes will never define us. Material will never define us. We are defined by where we come from. We know what is poverty ... Revolutionaries are not defined by material. Revolution and socialism does not mean we must all look the same. Socialism doesn’t mean we must all stay in the same shack.”
It has been a tough election campaign for Malema. His bid to revive his political career suffered a major blow early in his campaign when the South African Revenue Service won a court application to have him placed under provisional sequestration for failing to pay his R16-million debt to the taxman.
The ruling affects his eligibility for parliament: if the sequestration is made final by the courts when Malema appears again later this month — when by all expectations he will have been elected to serve — he will have to step down as an MP.
But that has not been his only problem. His entire campaign has been marred by attempts by former comrades in the ANC to frustrate the EFF. If they are not disrupting his rallies, stoning his supporters in East London or refusing him permission to use municipal stadiums in Tembisa and Atteridgeville, they get the state-run SABC to ban his election adverts.
Despite the difficulties, his campaign has found traction, especially among the poorest and most marginalised sections of society. With unemployment at 24.1% — and even worse among the youth — it is no surprise that Malema’s young party is destined to become the third-largest in parliament.
His promises of free education up to junior degree level, a minimum wage of R4 500 a month and the doubling of social grants to the poor found resonance with voters like Musa Mdudi.
Two weeks ago, 32-year-old Mdudi walked more than 3km from his home in Bhambayi informal settlement to hear Malema address a small but faithful crowd at Newtown C sports ground in Durban.
He has been a security guard
I love Malema because he knows our suffering. When he speaks he talks about what I’m going through
for six years and takes home R3 200. Mdudi shares his salary with eight other family members back in his rural home in Bizana, Eastern Cape.
He was attracted to the EFF leader when he heard its manifesto’s promise that no security guard would earn less than R7 500 under Malema.
“What makes me excited about this party is that I work in the industry the EFF is trying to fix. It is an industry that has been ignored by all other parties. That is why it has given me hope for a better future.”
Mdudi’s sentiment was shared by Bongani Adams, another security guard, who attended Malema’s election rally in East London last month.
“I love Malema because he knows our suffering. Whenever he speaks he talks to me. He talks about what I’m going through.”
The campaign has leant heavily on the popularity of its leader and no major rally has taken place without him. He has travelled all nine provinces, reading from the same script: “President Zuma took R1-million of taxpayers’ money and built a cattle kraal. He took R2.8-million and built himself a swimming pool. Zuma is 72 years old. He does not need a swimming pool. Just imagine Zuma and his wives in swimming costumes and jumping into a swimming pool,” he would say of Zuma’s Nkandla scandal, to huge laughter.
Of Cyril Ramaphosa, the man who presided over the appeals committee that expelled him from the ANC, Malema would say: “Ramaphosa is worse. He took R18-million out of his own pocket and bought a buffalo. In Venda, where Cyril comes from, they have no water and no electricity. They love animals more than they love you.”
His EFF-branded red truck — which usually arrives at least an hour before him — has also been a crowd-puller, attracting youngsters, including schoolchildren. In events leading to main rallies, crowds are urged to register their names to be bused to the main rally and the first 5 000 people are promised free T-shirts and berets.
EFF insiders say such a campaign has been costly to a party with limited resources.
Malema attracted huge crowds in Gauteng, Limpopo, North West and the Free State, but the coastal provinces of KwaZuluNatal, the Western Cape and the Eastern Cape have proved not to be as fertile for him.
But even with his claim of poverty, he waged a decent campaign — one that promises to land the EFF more seats than established political parties such as the Congress of the People, the United Democratic Movement and the Inkatha Freedom Party.