As a global era of populism gets into full swing we are witnessing a militant and dangerous form of populism rise up in South Africa too.
It is enthusiastically led by a man who has long introduced himself as a brazen user of militant, racist and disrespectful rhetoric in his perverse politics. He has not tried to hide this, and therefore he appears honest, whereas he is anything but that.
What makes this man and his party so dangerous is his ability to tap into the pain of the majority of South Africans and turn this pain into political currency.
By this effort, he is the beneficiary of the ANC’s own efforts to convince South Africans that all tactics are acceptable in politics.
So he is the beneficiary of a political culture of impunity and unprincipled, amoral pursuit of political power.
He is also a beneficiary of the intense training he went through as a youngster in mastering these political tactics.
It is no wonder that such training has produced a grotesque political animal, whose ugly head rears up often, bearing sharp teeth and belching out a noisy growl.
One of his tactics is a shameless one – the ability to push a narrative no matter what, whether there is no evidence to support it, even when there is evidence to disprove it.
If the narrative is good enough to hoodwink many of his supporters, he and his party will use it. But he is not the only one to uses this tactic. It is as if there is a particular political school which teaches this nonsense as part of its curriculum.
But of course this is no secret: that political school exists within the often contradictory ANC political narrative, where the idea of service to society seems to exist alongside the depravity of corruption that was embodied by Jacob Zuma.
“An attack on Pravin is an attack on white monopoly capital. Pravin is a dog of white monopoly capital. We must hit the dog until the owner comes out.” These are some of the depraved words of this man, Julius Malema, to his supporters outside the Zondo Commission into state capture recently. They were by no means the only depraved things he said.
The fact that he continues to use the disgraced Bell Pottinger concept of “white monopoly capital” along with Zuma and Andile Mngxitama demonstrates the kind of shamelessness that has become a political tool. That shamelessness feigns confidence, something we also know, of course, from confidence tricksters.
Another tactic popular with populists is to accuse others first of what they themselves may be guilty of.
So when a Malema talks about dogs and owners, you have to ask questions with this in mind. However, his ability to say what is beyond acceptable in public is itself designed to hoodwink some of us into thinking he is different.
The truth is that the man is cut from the same cloth as other populists, like Zuma.
It is this likeness to Zuma which made him and his party, the EFF, so suited to dealing with Zuma in parliament.
Malema’s embrace of insults as political tools is what makes him an effective verbal political assassin. He deployed his dirty skills against Mbeki, with Zuma grinning behind him.
Malema “attacked” anyone who stood against the horror of Zuma’s leadership, including Fezekile Khuzwayo, “Khwezi”, the long-suffering woman who accused Zuma of rape.
However, once he fell out with his master, or … eh, owner, Zuma, he turned and “attacked” Zuma, something which many of us have viewed as Zuma’s come-uppance.
Perhaps Malema and the EFF hoped they would keep some of Zuma’s patronage networks intact for themselves, seeing that they think they, alone, are responsible for his fall.
But Gordhan and the Zondo commission are seemingly dismantling everything.
Moyane is gone, the political piggy bank, VBS, is gone, and the EFF is implicated and exposed. Things are tough, so the verbal political assassin is on the attack.
The immediate tragedy is the hope of many EFF supporters, who think it is possible to convert an assassin of any kind into a leader. Not possible!..