If Julius Malema becomes president of South Africa, will there still be freedom of the press? Or will journalists be pelted with stones, hurled at with all sorts of insults and abuse? What happened recently to Karima Brown, a veteran journalist of eNCA and EyeWitness News, has sent shivers down our spines, thinking about what we can look forward to if the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) under Malema win the general election in May.

As editor of the Karima Brown Show, she mistakenly forwarded an “editorial brief” to an EFF WhatsApp group when she was giving directions to her reporters who were covering Malema at an EFF function, “Breakfast with the Elderly”. The message read: “Keep an eye out for this. Who are these elders? Are they all male and how are they chosen. Keep watching brief.”

This was normal, routine advice given by an editor to journalists in any news agency in a democratic society.

The response sent shock waves around the country. Instead of respecting the freedom of the media and an editor’s right to advise her staff, Malema and his EFF supporters went ballistic. Brown was threatened with beatings and rape by Malema’s Twitter followers after Malema posted her contact details for all his followers to see. It was cyberbullying at its worst.

How low can we go, by intimidating those who do not share our views?

It is seriously worrying what type of justice will be administered under EFF with a President Malema in charge. If he declares an editor anathema for instructing her colleague what to look out for, does it mean we must all sing the EFF chorus in case we might be declared persona non grata? It appears we will live under a rule of fear under President Malema, not rule of law. This is worrying indeed.

Is this the same Julius Malema who fought courageously against Jacob Zuma’s corruption in Parliament, demanding that he should pay back the taxpayers’ money used to build his Nkandla compound? As a country, we all celebrated this achievement when Zuma was compelled to start paying back the money.

Julius Malema is now fighting against journalists who criticise him and the EFF. He does not want to allow his party to be criticised. These are symptoms of embryonic dictatorship. Only dictators do not accept criticism.

On paper, the EFF is fighting for noble goals: the land of our forefathers to be returned to black people, and jobs for the youth. But how will black people get the land back? Will the EFF nationalise all the land? Will even more white farmers be murdered in their homes? Will all the land be owned by the state? Will white farmers be compensated? Will the land be fairly distributed, with equal opportunity for those able to properly farm it?

Or will it only be distributed to those who share the views of EFF? Unless there is an equitable and trustworthy method for distributing the land, only EFF supporters will be guaranteed a plot.

Further, can we be sure that in a country where two-thirds of the people now live in towns and cities, there will be food for us to eat? A great deal of farmland in South Africa has a very poor water supply. What is to guarantee that our land will continue to be farmed productively? Or will this land revolution lead to even more economic chaos than under Jacob Zuma, with starvation in the cities?

We remember what happened after the land expropriations of Malema’s hero, Robert Mugabe, a huge flight of economic migrants fleeing to South Africa. And where are South Africans supposed to go for refuge and a meal?

Those who voted for EFF instead of Zuma in the last general elections are beginning to doubt what to do now. Some are just scared of a South Africa under Malema, where people can just mount a tent and shack next to your house, claiming to take the land back. This will lead to confrontation between house owners and those mounting the tents and shacks next to standing houses. It appears there will be chaos, disorder and outright anarchy.

How can voters be sure there will be law and order under EFF?

Today when Malema and the EFF persecute first-rate, experienced journalists such as Ferial Haffajee, Ranjeni Munusamy and now Karima Brown, we must also ask: do they aim to persecute our fellow citizens who are not black?

Are we heading towards a regime of black fascism, and the end of Nelson Mandela’s vision of free and united land for all South Africa’s people?

Does this mean that under a future President Malema, there will be a free press only as long as you praise EFF?

We are right to worry about the EFF in power. It is threatening heavy restrictions on the media, just like during the apartheid regime which murdered our heroine journalist Ruth First in Maputo in 1982.

South Africa is in crisis. Misgovernment by the ANC under Jacob Zuma now threatens misgovernment under Julius Malema, who was only nine years old when Nelson Mandela was released after 27 years in prison.

It is time we reformed our democracy in order to save it. DM