The slow speed of South Africa's transition has given space for populist politicians to push a message of radical change... Julius Malema would clearly be in this category. Since his election as president of the ANC Youth League his has been a meteoric rise as a significant political voice within the country. Malema has been able to understand the impact of marginalization of large numbers of men, women, and children and court them with a message of economic transformation, suggesting that he can make good on the promises that the ANC has been unwilling and/or unable to deliver. His message, "Our immediate task is the liberation of our people in an economic sense."
The challenges facing the country are huge: 2.4 million families are waiting for homes, poverty is so endemic that 12.4 million South Africans are living off minimal social security grants, and the HIV/ADIS pandemic is one of the highest in the world. All this within an economic system that generates US350 billion a year. Malema has tapped into the fear, anger and pain of this reality. He is pushing for radical policy shifts including nationalization as a way to make resources available to the poor.
Yet at the same time he is one of the 'tenderpreneurs' who has accessed significant wealth in what appears to be highly questionable ways. His lifestyle is lavish and he brooks no opposition to his way of thinking and has dealt harshly with opponents. In many ways he embodies the political tradition of 'lumpen radicalism' defined by unruliness, resistance, and insatiable appetites for power, control, luxuries, etc.
For more insight into both Malema and the political realities that have shaped him read the book, 'An Inconvenient Youth: Julius Malema and the ANC'' by Fiona Ford. Picador Africa, 2011
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