The Fate of Julius Malema

As Julius Malema wrestles with the Devil, to use the words of Ngugi wa Thiong'o, one of two possible tragedies will visit Malema.

The first possibility is that Malema will tap out, but be given the latitude to pull all sort of verbal tricks and showmanship antics to give the ordinary people the impression that he is still the firebrand revolutionary who sprouted from one of the worst shantytowns in South Africa. Behind the scene, he will get oodles of money to keep his family living in great comfort. Call it hush money and bribery if you so choose. The shantytown populist may even get the South African presidency, in which capacity he will occasionally go out to publicly castigate the capitalists' monopoly over the country's economic engines. These fast-talking tricks will be sanctioned by his handlers and benefactors. Highly gifted scribes and amazing wordsmiths may even be hired on a healthy retainer to write flowing and adulatory tweets and opinion-editorial columns. Have no doubt about it, the ordinary people, most of them pathetic simpletons, will call Malema the greatest African leader since Robert Mugabe who used to fearlessly scold the scion of the wrestling Devil at public theatres like the United Nations General Assembly.

In the meantime, Malema's same benefactors will cleverly tell everyone that Malema's public persona is entirely different from his character when in private one-on-one meetings. You will hear that Uncle Juju is quite affable --- yes, they will polish off his rough edges by giving him comforting names. His tenancy in the presidency will be a reward for capitulating in the contest with the Devil. He may discard the red overalls, the miner's hard-hat helmet and steel-toed gumboots, all of which he will save for public theatrics in parliament and political rallies. The rest of the times, the kid from the shantytown will dress in immaculate suits, starch-stiffened white-as-Arctic-Circle-snow shirts festooned with shimmering metallic buttons. His followers will be blind to all these personality disorders. While privately smiling the sly smile, Malema's benefactors will shepherd along the false image that he is the man of the people. For as long as he is fully compliant with the grand agenda of the Devil to whom he lost the wrestling contest, Malema will be safe. He may actually be called the long-awaited magnanimous successor to the much-praised but largely and functionally ineffectual Nelson Mandela.

The second possibility is what awaits Julius Malema if he consistently and persistently continues to genuinely march down his current path. He will gather the usual gudzamudungwe mass of cheerleaders. Along the way, Malema will be joined by Africans who seriously want to move Africa forward. These are the Africans who have been lamenting the utter lack of political leadership needed to fully free Africa from foreign chains of bondage and the menacles of so-called leaders who are incapable of leading as small an entity as a village of one hut. With such powerful intellectual backing, Malema may end up demonstrating that Africa can be truly resurrected. Carthage, Meroe, Karima, Thebes, Memphis, Unu, Imbahuru, Mapungubwe, Nkami and other dead figurative and literal ancient cities will begin to show promising signs of coming back to life. Deserts will be stopped and turned back from encroaching into arable lands. Some of the desert patches will be turned into luxuriant forests with cooing doves, hooting owls, cuckling hyenas, roaring lions and all the animals that find comfort in healthy forests. Your Sahara, Kalahari and Namib wastelands will begin to be transformed into rolling fields of millet and wheat stretching way beyond the visible horizon, all showing signs of permanently banishing hunger from the African landmass. When he starts taming the desert from a death zone to a place that sustains life, boom, Malema will get killed.

If you doubt me, check out the African history of Johnstone Kamau (Jomo Kenyatta), Felix Houphert-Boigny, Hastings Kamuzu Banda, Robert Mugabe and Nelson Mandela. These are some of our leaders who wrestled the Devil only to capitulate. For those who did not yield in the struggle against the Devil, you can also check out Kwame Nkrumah, Sekou Toure, Patrice Lumumba, Herbert Chitepo, Pio Gama Pinto, Thomas Sankara, Muamar Gaddafi and, strange as the dual appearance might be, Robert Mugabe. I say pay particular attention to Sankara and Gaddafi.

Mark my words….

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