Upon arrival at Luthuli House, one was met by a less than hospitable security guard. Apparently, journos weren’t allowed in yet. We had to “wait until you’re called”. Right. Only the Youth League would be able to find a new way to make life difficult. So there was a large group of journos outside Luthuli House for a good half an hour. It was a much larger gaggle than that outside Camp Julius. One wag even suggested we were only there to get material for our political obituaries (that sounds awfully much like something you’d say Stephen – Ed).

Eventually, we were allowed in and things started to get going.

The first surprise was the appearance of the banners for the MK Military Veterans Association. They’re the ones who held a conference just after that violence outside Luthuli House for the express purpose of heaping abuse on the Youth League for burning the ANC’s flag. But there’s common cause here; they want to protect the party’s heritage too.

The second eyebrow-raiser was the arrival of MKMVA secretary-general Ayanda Dlodlo, clutching her new iPad 2. Among her other jobs (including being a deputy-minister), she is also a member of the ANC’s national disciplinary panel. That’s right. The one in which she will refer to Derek Hanekom as chair and Malema as “the accused”. When asked about this, Malema says simply that “we are all comrades…when we are finished with disciplinary issues, we talk politics together”. It’s no surprise that she would be outraged, personally, by the Lamont judgment. The ANC’s history and heritage will mean an awful lot to someone who put themselves in harm’s way for freedom.

But there is another talking point here. Malema had asked for several members of the panel to recuse themselves, on the ground that they oppose his political agenda. Hanekom himself has spoken against land expropriation without compensation, minerals minister Susan Shabangu opposes mine nationalisation etc. Conversely, the ANC prosecutor Andries Nel could argue that Dlodlo could side with Malema, so the Young Lion’s whole recusal argument could well fall flat just on this one point.

Right, now onto Malema the man. He was his dashing and daring self. Extreme, pushy, not scared of anything (note: President Jacob Zuma was not in the room), shoving the envelope as far as he could. Of course the ANC Youth League is going to appeal Monday’s judgment. (We’re pleased about that too. They must, and I myself have grave reservations about the constitutionality of the Equality Act. )

Yes, we’re members of the chattering classes. And yes we agree with Malema. There’s a headline there somewhere. (How about “Journalists back Malema – Ed). It was left to League secretary-general (for now, his hearing is already over but we don’t know the verdict yet) Sindiso Magaqa to put it thus: “This gloriously flawed ruling”. Logically it doesn’t seem flawed. But constitutionally… it probably is.

For Malema, this is more evidence that “the minority is in charge… that everything we do they control”. His argument was not pretty. When asked directly if this ruling was proof that the courts were “racist”, he said that most people believed they were not “fully transformed, and if that means racist, so be it”. Clever answer. Particularly because, depending on where you stand, it appears to have the virtue of being true.

He then launched into a diatribe. We’ve decoded it, and it’s worth looking at. Last week Robert Mcbride was convicted of drunken driving and attempting to pervert the course of justice. He got two years for the former and five years for the latter. In the same week, Blue Bulls rugby player “Bees” Roux agreed to pay R750,000 to the family of a police officer he admitted to killing and thus won’t go to jail. For Malema, “Mcbride killed nobody and goes to jail” while Roux killed “a man in uniform” and goes free.

He’s not entirely wrong, is he? Sure, the Mcbride sentence is really because he tried to pervert the course of justice while serving as a police chief, so it would seem he deserves harsh punishment. But the Roux thing still leaves a nasty taste in the mouth. And it plays right in the hands of a politician with a taste for some fresh racial polarisation.

There was Malema at his most disturbing. For him, the more his back is against the wall, the more he brings race into it. That is what politicians in South Africa do. But even for him, it’s a little extreme. “The oppressor is gaining confidence” he claims, “and it’s because we have let him”. “He is bringing back apartheid through the back door”. It’s not true of course. Afriforum isn’t an oppressor. It’s just misguided. But for Malema, this is about the sunset clauses in the Consitution. He claims the League is going to write it’s own political discussion document about these clauses – presumably with a view to getting rid of them. We have to ask, nearly 20 years after the thing was signed, do they still really play a role. But mucking about with this document is something we all need to be trepidatious about.

And of course we have Malema the ever-revolutionary. “We must intensify the struggle to defend political freedom”. Really? Economic freedom I get. But political freedom? How do you define that exactly? I presume what that really means is that the ANC doesn’t have enough power. I presume that Ngoako Ramathlodi was listening.

But back to the main matter at hand: the songs, or chants if you prefer. Malema and the League want to go not just to the appeal courts but also to Parliament and to Cabinet to change the legislation. Again, good. They should. There is clearly something the matter with this legislation, and we need a proper dialogue about it. Presumably, in Parliament at least, one would think that there will be a change here.

At the start of the press conference, Floyd Shivambu warned us all that no one would be allowed to ask a question about anything other than the songs/chants. So it was an oblique question about the presence of Dlodlo that got Malema to let rip about the disciplinary hearing. “People went to the DC. Some came out alive. Some did not. The ANC continued” he said. That’s one way of looking at it.

On one level, he seems to be saying that he’s going to win, that he’s entirely comfortable with the process – which is quite at odds with the applications he lodged on various technical grounds. So has something changed? On balance, it’s entirely possible. As always with the ANC in general, and Malema in particular, literally anything can happen. Zuma himself seemed to indicate in an interview with The Star’s Business Report that he didn’t want Malema drummed out of the ANC. That could have been normal politicking, Zuma has nothing to gain from looking vengeful. One outcome of this entire process, though, might be acceptable to all concerned is if Malema finds that to survive, he basically has to re-hitch himself to Zuma’s wagon in a big way. Zuma might enjoy having a chastened Malema at his beck and call.
Having said all of that, Malema is a naturally confident guy. Like Zuma, he doesn’t seem to let impending legal processes get in the way of a laugh. So it could all just be bravado. The disciplinary panel seems determined to actually now hear Malema’s case. It claims it will be finished by Saturday. Eventually, the real balance of power will be revealed. DM