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Opinionista

What lies between Julius Malema’s face and his mask?

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Ismail Lagardien is a writer, columnist and political economist with extensive exposure and experience in global political economic affairs. He was educated at the London School of Economics, and holds a PhD in International Political Economy.

If the Economic Freedom Fighters are hard to read, their leader is most inscrutable. Sometimes Julius Malema resembles the leader of a quasi-military junta. Quite often he acts like a bully let loose on a playground. At the best of times, Malema’s intellectual mediocrity is hidden behind ruthless cunning, political opportunism, the egregious theft of moral sentiments of the poor, the marginalised and, of course, the landless.

The EFF and their leader, Julius Malema, are exceedingly difficult to fathom. It is especially difficult to imagine the EFF as a governing power, at any level; at least not within existing structures and institutions of governance. In hindsight, the same could have been said about the ANC before 1994, but everyone gave them the benefit of the doubt. We were blinded by optimism, and anyway, at that time we held the moral upper hand; these, we thought, would be sufficient to see us through….

The bar has, however, been set very low. Morally, politically and ethically, the previous order had lowered it quite considerably; the current regime lowered it even further, and it is hard to see how the EFF can, actually, raise the bar even notionally. By accident or design, the EFF seems ill-prepared to engage in any ordered and structured discussions. They often seem like the child who was given a hammer. Seriously, now….

On the basis of its constitution, South Africa is Western liberal country. As such, existing notions and practices of public administration, and of traditions like public audits, record-keeping, or the provision of public goods and services, and the institutions that make up our polity, are inheritances of European-style governance. One gets the sense that if the EFF were to reach political office somewhere in the country, they would simply sack the place, because of our European heritage.

In some ways, perhaps not by accident, the EFF have already started to overturn conventional ideas about political conduct in our Western liberal democratic society. Consider the way they have reduced Parliament to a charnel house of all that went before it; democratic or undemocratic. Nonetheless, if one were to imbue the EFF with intellectual or policy coherence, we can turn to the ideas of Frantz Fanon.

Given their stated loyalty to the ideas of Fanon, it is not difficult to reach the conclusion that the EFF may well consider all current institutions of governance as ‘neo-colonial’ and inheritances of European rule. In Fanonian terms, the post-colonial, and in our case the post-apartheid urban bourgeoisie are parasitic and repressive, and have legitimised their power and practices though cultural expression and dominance. We may expect, then, that EFF bombast, bluster, intellectual incoherence, posturing, malice and obstreperousness (all of which conceal abject mediocrity) combined with a Fanon-inspired destruction of all vestiges of European institutions may, indeed, lead to a sacking of society.

In his quite brilliant book, Wretched of the Earth, Fanon wrote:

In decolonization… The last shall be first and the first last. Decolonization is the putting into practice of this sentence…. The naked truth of decolonization evokes for us the searing bullets and bloodstained knives which emanate from it. For if the last shall be first, this will only come to pass after a murderous and decisive struggle…. That affirmed intention to place the last at the head of things, and to make them climb at a pace … the well-known steps which characterize an organised society, can only triumph if we use all means to turn the scale, including, of course, that of violence…. The native who decides to put the program into practice, and to become its moving force, is ready for violence at all times. From birth it is clear to him that this narrow world, strewn with prohibitions, can only be called in question by absolute violence.’

To the extent that Fanon was right, and that decolonisation is always violent, and that violence is necessary to eradicate all vestiges of the European colonial presence in the country, South Africa has not had its violent moment. To the extent that the EFF are loyal to Fanon, they may well reduce South Africa to his ‘tabula rasa’; the blank slate upon which to start reconstructing ‘the whole social structure… from the bottom up’.

The EFF’s apparent loyalty to Fanon may help us figure out how they will, actually, go about governing, if or when they do reach public office. The problem is, of course, that they are long on ‘what’ they will do, or what they want, but short on ‘how’ they will achieve anything. Will they simply march current owners off the land, and replace them with people of their choice? Will they simply take all the valuables from one group of people, and bestow them upon another? Will they simply march everyone who disagrees with them into the sea? Will they tell all foreign investors to leave the country? We will have to wait and see.

If the EFF are hard to read, independently, their leader is most inscrutable. Sometimes he resembles the leader of a quasi military junta, replete with sunglasses, gaudy gear, and a defiant stare. Quite often he acts like a bully let loose on a playground, who just will not play with anyone, nor will he allow others to play among themselves. At the best of times, Malema’s intellectual mediocrity is hidden behind ruthless cunning, political opportunism, the egregious theft of moral sentiments of the poor, the marginalised and, of course, the landless. He seems to confuse raising his voice or repeating the rhythm and bass of what is, to him, mere propaganda windfalls, with civic duty, valour, integrity and, well, intelligence. It is exceedingly difficult to come up with a greater caricature of Malema, than what he represents of himself.

On the surface of things, in the public eye, that is, he seems to be winning the politics-as rhetoric-competition, especially with the ‘Pay Back the Money’ campaign. Scratch deeper, and it is hard to ignore the possibility that if you taught a parrot to say, ‘When will the president pay back the money,’ you would probably get an intellectually and rhetorically more sincere oration. Even if he is sincere, and his deep concern for justice is not just feigned righteousness, it is hard to see what Malema will do for an encore, apart from the sack of society.

If we want to preserve the institutions that preside over us – yes, they are fundamentally European and, by extension, colonial inheritances – then Malema must not be allowed anywhere near the control panel. He is a dangerous man. It is a sad irony that democratic societies or ersatz populist movements, tend to elevate odious characters to positions of leadership. If we have learned anything from history, it would be that the mechanisms by which leaders are elected do not preclude the election of people who might turn out to be murderers, despots or dictators. During electoral campaigns, potential criminals do not announce themselves as such; they make the sweetest of promises, sometimes knowing full well that they cannot, possibly, honour them.

If Malema is the answer to our questions, we would be best advised to start questioning the question. We may want to start by asking what lies between Malema’s face and his mask. DM

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