Ignore Malema at your own peril

Opinion — By on April 10, 2010 12:01 pm

By Freeman Chari

Freeman Chari

I will continue to urge people to read Malema not for his illiteracy but for what lies below those outbursts. He might not be able to express himself in a less brutal manner or in a candy-coated manner but what he seeks to say is what a conscious black South Africa youth would say albeit in a different manner.

Behind what could be perceived as shallowness by the majority of the media and our intelligent white brothers is a quest to express a deep-seated distortion in the South African society. Instead of shooting the messenger, my white brothers should take hint of what may become of them if they do not help find an amicable solution to this.

This happened in Zimbabwe, my white brothers failed to read the trends when the Chenjerai Hunzvi- led war veterans invaded farm lands as far back as 1990; they were silenced by police, they were silenced by the courts and they were even silenced by ZANU PF. But what eventually happened? It exploded in a manner that could have been avoidable had there been better and holistic engagement between the two races and classes.

What the BBC reporter and many other people fail to appreciate is that; it doesn’t necessarily need a pauper to represent a pauper. The fact that Malema is staying in Sandton doesn’t necessarily make him out of touch with the people nor does it make him oblivious of the suffering in Soweto.

There are many examples; Morgan Tsvangirai stays in Strathaven but still effectively represents the people of Domborembavha in the communal lands of Gutu. Even the greatest revolutionaries of our time were from the middle class yet represented the interests of the poor peasant effectively- Lennin, Mao, Nkrumah etc.

If Malema is stupid as many people -black and white- would want us to believe; let it be known that the matters that he treads on recklessly are the same matters that most of them would choose to ignore not because these matters are not important but because of their sheer cowardice. Now this fear is allowing the “stupid” to show their courage whilst the “intelligent” wallow in veiled anxiety.

My hope is that, South Africans will not allow their struggle to be skewed by the media which finds it a thrill when something happens to a white supremacist or when a certain Malema speaks broken English but continuously avoids reporting the disparities that exist at the core of South Africa’s booming economy.

Sooner or later the same white supremacists are going to be the champions of human rights when everything they own is taken away. We have had those cases in Zimbabwe; today we have more white people as champions of human rights even if some of their hands are dripping with blood of black people killed before 1980. Some were in the notorious BSAP.

The same might happen in South Africa when those with the blood of Chris Hani, Hector Pietersen , Steve Biko would erupt from their cocoons as champions of emancipation of black people in a veiled attempt to derail the ideological morale of those who genuinely believe in equality and unity. South Africa’s heroes will become enemies whilst yesteryear’s enemies become heroes!

So to my South African brothers (white & black) I say: postpone dealing with your sensitive issues at your own peril. Sooner or later you will have to wake up to the realities of procrastination when some opportunists will take it upon themselves to be champions of your struggle all in the quest of power. Mark my words.

With brotherly love from Zimbabwe.

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