Juju was always being used

Phumla Matjila | 08 May, 2012 00:36

 

Oh my, how the world turns. One day you are the cock of the walk, the next a feather duster. But this is not the 1985 Australian post-apocalyptic film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome; this is South Africa post-2008. So it is more accurate to say: One day you are accused of fraud, corruption and rape, the next you are the leader of the biggest political party in the land.

One day you're South Africa's No 1 citizen, the African Renaissance guru, the next you are "recalled" in the middle of the night and given a deadline to resign and pack your bags before your comrades can say "ngoku" (now).
One day, you're a youth league head honcho, with a multimillion- rand pad under construction at one of Johannesburg's most desirable addresses, the next you are disposed of like a "condom".
The expelled ANC Youth League president Julius Malema sure has a way with words. But when did he realise he was being screwed? We, on the other side, have known this for quite a while.
Oh, Julius, have you not learned anything from your involvement in former president Thabo Mbeki's recall? Have you not learned that when your fellow comrades have had enough of you, the best you can do is bow out gracefully?
To paraphrase Frank Chikane when he described Mbeki's mood on September 20 in his book Eight Days in September: The Removal of Thabo Mbeki, when he [Chikane] went to Mahlamba Ndlopfu to confirm the news of his recall - Malema must look like a "soldier who is ready to die", if he has to, for the sake of the country, "a lamb to be slaughtered for a cause".
Mbeki, too, had "lived his whole life for the ANC and had no life outside the party" and his recall "felt like 'feeding on your own' or ending his life", Chikane tells us.
"What would he be without or outside the ANC? What would become of his life outside the ANC? What would South Africa be like after his removal? What would happen to the ANC?" Chikane ponders in his book.
I'm sure these are the questions that keep Malema awake at night while unashamedly trying to find a way to go back to the only political home he knows.
But Juju should find solace in the fact that Mbeki is fine. To this day, because of the dignified way in which he left office, even after his comrades tried to make the exit as humiliating as possible, he still makes President Jacob Zuma quiver in his shoes, some say.
South Africa is fine too - sort of. The usual cancers - crime, corruption, unemployment - are still as problematic today as they were during Mbeki's term in office.
And the ANC is still as divided as it was before Mbeki was recalled. So, Juju must not worry. South Africa will survive without him.
What Malema should do or should have done - and can still do, because it is never too late to behave as if you had been well-groomed for the position of ANCYL president - is to take a leaf out of Mbeki's book regarding how he handled his recall.
Mind you, this was the president of the country, so the stakes are not that high for Juju, who was just the youth league's prez. His expulsion should not be that painful to bear.
Chikane writes that Mbeki, who saw no life outside the ANC, believed that "if his organisation asked him to leave office, he would comply, since he saw his role as that of 'service to the people' rather than 'a position' that he needed to fight for".
And he did comply. No mess, no fuss. No kicking, no screaming, no empty threats.
He resigned when he was asked to, addressed the nation when he was asked to, vacated the official residences - even when his own house was not yet complete. He did what he was told.
And it was the last we heard of him, except occasionally when the Presidency flexed its muscle and complained about footing the bill for his travels to Sudan to perform his duties as the chair of a panel tasked with implementing recommendations of the African Union on Darfur.
Or when tensions began to develop between Zuma and Juju, and Malema resorted to praising Mbeki's leadership and intellectual capabilities.
What Juju should know by now is that you are as powerful as the ANC wants you to be.
If the ANC can wake up a long-retired, 92-year-old, sickly, frail and senile former president on a cold winter night to parade him on a golf cart in a stadium filled with World Cup soccer fans - and with billions more watching on TV around the world - and that's when they are being nice - what more can they do with a wayward youth leader?
If the ANC can boot out a parliament elected president a few months before his term ends - and have a new president installed quicker than you can say constitution - what more can they do to a 31-year-old youth leader who is seen as biting the hand that feeds him.
Juju thought he was bigger than the leadership of the ANC, and some people even believed this to be true. Well, he was wrong, and so were they.
But it is never too late for Juju to behave like a "soldier who is ready to die" or "a lamb to be slaughtered for a cause".
Who knows, one day someone, somewhere - when the ANC leadership makes another turn and it is that person's turn to be the cock of the walk - the future might not look so gloomy for Juju.