Ignore the evildoers – whack the fly!
Juju s deadly pronouncements made him the charismatic front man of the people, writes MADALA THEPA
COMPARED to the shenanigans of other comrades in the ANC, Juju’s “wickedness ” (if it can be called wickedness at all) is a tad too harmless to warrant expulsion.
On the scale of bringing the party into disrepute, Juju’s faults don’t weigh up a ton against those who are routinely knee-deep in the trough depleting the national cof fers.
Advocate Thuli Madonsela’s office is inundated with memos of tender irregularities of astronomical proportions and complaints of corruption by government officials.
We are talking here about members of the ruling party whose cases are sometimes tempered with mercy if not shelved indefinitely.
The fact that extensive reference was made to the ANC Constitution when expelling young Juju and suspending his equally ankle-biting executive makes for an interesting analysis.
There is doubt that the NDC’S statement on mitigation and aggravation findings was written from an objective, dispassionate perspective.
It was merely for settling party scores.
This is the ANC hoping to get their “moral integrity” fix by hoisting enemies” by their own petard
“before Mangaung.
Juju ’ s “deadly pronouncements” made him the charismatic front man of the people, and recently the enemy of mining company bosses who still want to loot the minerals undisturbed by the moral indignation of Africans.
Juju was the rhetorical cover and innuendo tool of the ANC, controlling the narrative when it became apparent that there was a leadership vacuum.
Things have changed. The crowd that heckled former president Thabo Mbeki in Polokwane are now fighting each other.
This is not to say Juju is inno- cent. The breathtaking arrogance of the youth league leader and company is well documented.
That Juju was a man made out of political putty, moulded into this great ensemble actor of the ruling party cannot be discounted.
He was protected, pampered and coerced to speak his mind without fear. The problem is that he never knew his limits.
Juju is not the first ANC mem- ber to be dropped like a bad habit.
He should ask Bantu Holomisa about betrayal, get acquainted with Malebane Metsing’s side-lining after Lucas Mangope was dethroned in Bophuthatswana, or read up on the sad story of the late Joe Nhlanhla, who was cut off from the ministry of intelligence and lived in squalor until he died.
Indeed the ANC, contrary to what Mathews Phosa says, does have a dustbin of history for comrades.
From now on it is the ANC’S honour that needs to be salvaged.
It is not Juju and company who are a major disincentive to the efficient running of the ANC.
We are in a post-ideology era – the age of personality cults, comradeship over the effectual. The commies stack the deck of their leadership debate on “who has the edge on who” based on popularity.
But the war is not over, according to the youth league. The young man who once glared at the world aggressively believes there is always a comeback.
If he fails in his appeal, which is in a few days, he should not take it as an attack on his credibility.
After all, it is young Juju who told us not long ago that you cannot rule forever.