Julius Malema is back in the news! The ANC Youth League leader has allegedly launched another attack on President Jacob Zuma, condemning leaders in polygamous relationships. Malema is thought to have has said that leaders “must lead by example. You must have one wife, or one husband. If you are still young, you must have one boyfriend and you must have one girlfriend. It is not fashionable to sleep around. You will die.”
Now the ANC Youth League has come out and said it condemns the SABC’s “distortion of the message ANC Youth League President Julius Malema gave to the youth in his address to the ANCYL 66th Anniversary rally in the Free State”.
The league says in his address, Malema reaffirmed the ANCYL’s policy of One Boyfriend—One Girlfriend, “which is aimed at discoursing multi-sexual relationships amongst the youth”.
“And because there are ANC Youth League members and youth in general who are married, the President encouraged those to stay with one partners so that they are not exposed to the dangers of multi-sexual relationships.”
The league says for reasons not known to it, the SABC’s capturing of the message sought to suggest that Malema was referring to President Jacob Zuma. The ANCYL says it wants to place on record that Malema never made any reference to Zuma and “will never discuss personal matters of the ANC President in public”.
What are your thoughts?
During apartheid African, Indian and coloured people were systematically excluded from meaningful participation in the country’s economy. The main goal of BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) is to rectify the one-sided effects of the years of apartheid, which benefited white South Africa. BEE’s strategic aim is also to promote economic growth and development. In more than 16 years, BEE has achieved many successes in correcting the imbalance and promoting economic growth. While a number black billionaires have been created, the majority of black South Africans have not yet benefited. It is now felt that since Zuma ousted Mbeki in Polokwane, BEE has become ZEE (Zuma Economic Empowerment). Some examples are Duduzane Zuma, Jacob’s son in the multibillion-rand Arcelor-Mittal BEE deal and his nephew, Khulubuse Zuma, who has amassed oil resources in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Zapiro’s cartoon shows Jacob Zuma agreeing that more people should benefit from BEE but he has run out of relatives.
ANC Youth League Leader is making the headlines again and this time in spectacular fashion! Malema chased out a BBC reporter during a press briefing at ANC headquarters, Luthuli House, in Johannesburg yesterday. Malema kicked BBC journalist Jonathan Fisher out of the youth league media briefing after calling the reporter a “bastard”.
Julius Malema was addressing the media on the ANCYL’s recent visit to Zimbabwe. He criticised Zimbabwean opposition party the MDC (Movement for Democratic Change), saying they should go back to Zimbabwe instead of working from offices in Sandton, Johannesburg. The BBC journalist then got Malema going after he told Malema that he himself lives in Sandton.
Jacob Zuma announced his new government on Sunday. There were a few surprises and some restructuring in the ministries The full list of the new ministers can be found below together with a video of President Jacob Zuma announcing his new appointments. Let us know what you think of this new team.
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Yesterday marked a ‘new dawn’ in South Africa when Jacob Zuma was inaugurated as the president of the country. As I woke up yesterday, the weather was terrible, it was grey and overcast and I wondered what was going to happen at the inauguration if it rained. I switched on my TV to tune into the live coverage of the inauguration and you could see the rain coming down and those already gathered at the Union Buildings had their umbrellas and raincoats. At that time I started to receives text messages and emails saying that this rain and gloom is a bad sign! “How can our next president be sworn in on a day that is so dull and gloomy?” I too was getting very worried. But I was sure that the organisers of this event had made provisions for rain. In African culture, rain is a sign of blessing so even if it rained it would be a blessing for that day, whilst some would say the rain is a sign of the infamous Jacob Zuma ’shower’!
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Baleka Mbete will not be the deputy president of South Africa and instead will take up a role at Luthuli House as chairperson of the ANC. No one knows exactly what is happening behind the scenes at the ANC with regards to Mbete but this is the most likely explanation:
Mbete wanted to remain as the deputy president of South Africa when Jacob Zuma was appointed president of the country. But it looks like Zuma has decided to go with caretaker president Kgalema Motlanthe as the deputy president of the country. A move that Mbete was clearly not happy with.
On Wednesday in parliment, Mbete ‘refused’ to be sworn in as an MP. I use the word refused in inverted commas because some circles say Mbete refused to be sworn in on her own terms whilst some people say that Mbete and the ANC were not yet clear on what role Mbete would take up by the time Wednesday came thus she was not sworn in.
But now it looks clear that Mbete refused to be sworn in after being snubbed of the deputy president position. But as a former deputy president, Mbete is entitled to her R1.8 million pension for life and other perks such as bodyguards, an official car and staff at taxpayers’ expense. Not bad money at all!!
Reports in todays Sunday Times suggest that Mbete “behaved like a school girl” when she snubbed being sworn in as an MP, a move they say embarrassed the ANC. One would be tempted to say there is already infighting in the new ANC administration ‘before a ball has even been kicked’. This is politics after all and nothing will ever be clear and smooth sailing from here on out.
The puppet that caused a lot of controversy has been auctioned off for R100 000. The puppet which featured in the recent Nandos TV advert and became a “celebrity overnight” was sold to Ryan Lotter from Johannesburg. It is understood that the proceeds of the auction will be donated to a charity group. The question now remains; what will Lotter do with the puppet? There are some suggestions that he is going to give it to DA leader Hellen Zille who Julius Malema recently called a ‘racist little girl’.
South Africa’s fourth democratic elections since 1994 exposed some key fissures in the country’s body politic yet also confirmed some long-standing trends. Domestic party politics has always been largely the domain of the African National Congress – fighting to either increase its monolithic dominance of public support within a single-dominant political party structure or fending off smaller and less significant opposition entities usually from minority communities. This election was no different – yet the unique circumstances following last year’s un-ceremonial early dismissal of outgoing President Thabo Mbeki together with the ascent to the power by Mbeki’s successor, the controversial Jacob Zuma., dominated the campaign.
In fact, the entire poll was dominated almost entirely by the persona of Jacob Zuma. Acquitted on rape charges three years ago and implicated in an ongoing graft and corruption scandal involving a very controversial and questionable arms scandal, Zuma was bound to illicit howls of derision from intellectuals. The ‘chattering classes’ were quick to laugh him off as eminently unsuitable for public office and to denigrate him for his lack of formal education. Coupled with his now infamous views on unprotected sex and the transmission of HIV/AIDS, Zuma’s every word and deed became the focus of the campaign – to the detriment of most other policy debates.
All South Africa’s political parties produced glossy and detailed election manifestos that dealt in varying degrees of detail with the perennial issues of ‘service delivery’ – particularly in education, health care and poverty alleviation. But, it was still Jacob Zuma and his suitability as future President that continued to occupy the minds of the media and analysts alike. Few voters would’ve been able to articulate policy nuances of the differing parties – but most had a view on Zuma.
It may be a public holiday today and many of you may not be surfing the Internet today but I have just come across a piece of interesting news! Julius Malema was today addressing thousands of tripartite alliance supporters at Workers Day celebrations at the Thomas Shabalala stadium at Lindelani, north of Durban. And as always, Malema had something to say! “She [Zille], the racist little girl, must remember that Zuma is her boss,” Malema said. He went on to also say, “Helen Zille must give report to Zuma about the Western Cape…the racist girl has not won…all of them must call President Zuma, President.”
I guess we have gotten used to Malema and his comments and statements but this one today has caught me by surprise. I would have thought that now they (ANC) have won the elections, Malema will now keep quiet but he may just be warming up for bigger statements now that they are in charge.
Now that the elections are over in South Africa, this is what Zapiro thinks about the 2009 Elections.
“Visit www.zapiro.com for more cartoons.”