JULIUS Malema’s problem is a lack of discipline, says African National Congress (ANC) veteran Pallo Jordan, as the former ANC youth league president prepares to go to court after police bundled him out of Marikana on Monday.
Mr Jordan said in an interview yesterday "everyone has a potential to be a leader. But even with potential, when you do not listen there are consequences."
Mr Malema’s bravado was shaken on Monday, after police escorted him away from the Wonderkop stadium at Marikana in Rustenburg — where he was expected to address thousands of striking Lonmin miners.
He is being investigated by the Hawks following complaints that he had incited violence.
Mr Malema has been a thorn in the side for the government, mining companies and established trade unions, with his calls for national strikes, higher wages, resignations and revolution.
He was expelled from the ANC in April for sowing divisions and bringing the party into disrepute. In the wake of the Marikana tragedy, he has singled out President Jacob Zuma for criticism, saying that the problems faced by striking mineworkers were due to the president’s lack of leadership.
The government deployed soldiers to Marikana at the weekend in a bid to stabilise the situation, after saying last week it had lost patience with striking mineworkers. Weapons were confiscated and a small group disarmed.
At a media briefing in Johannesburg yesterday, Mr Malema said he went to Marikana because he was invited, and that he would either sue the police or approach the Constitutional Court.
He said Mr Zuma had militarised the police "like all dictators", when he took office.
Mr Jordan said Mr Malema was searching for trouble spots to "shoot off his mouth", adding that Mr Zuma was not responsible for Mr Malema’s expulsion from the ANC. "He did not behave," said Mr Jordan.
Democratic Alliance federal youth leader Makashule Gana said young people’s frustration with poverty and unemployment was a "danger". "There is a sense that the only way to be heard is to be violent," said Mr Gana.
Mr Jordan said SA’s youth were justifiably impatient, but not because the government was not delivering. "For the first time you have a government that has been able to deliver houses at a rate of 1,000 a day."
That the majority of people do not have economic freedom is correct, said Mr Jordan. Mr Malema had jumped onto the bandwagon of discontent in Marikana, "but he has no answers".
Mr Malema said "the only solution to the crisis of unemployment, poverty and starvation in SA is the attainment of economic freedom".
Post a comment