Shallow substitute for thought
In the world of journalism columnists read each others' contributions.
Generally speaking, articulate black writers have reacted with embarrassment and anger to the recent remarks made by the newly elected leader of the ANC Youth League, Julius Malema, about his undying love for ANC President Jacob Zuma.
Malema said he would 'kill' for Zuma and this statement caused such an uproar that Malema received a letter from no less than the Human Rights Commission demanding that his threats be retracted or face the consequences.
That's the only edifying thing to come out of this mess.
A Human Rights Commissioner went onto TV further justifying the letter and spelled out the dangers of such inflammatory statements.
'Who is he going to kill, the police, the Prosecuting Authority, the trial judges?' the lawyers asked.
Fred Khumalo of the Sunday Times, an excellent columnist, wrote that Malema clearly suffered from an ailment which babies get when dropped on their heads when very young.
Khumalo had clearly studied Malema's insignificant life.
It had taken Malema about double the usual time to pass certain high school grades and this was because Malema was 'so excited' then about becoming a part of a student organisation (COSAS).
Intellectual invalid
Calling Malema an 'intellectual invalid', Khumalo emphasised that the new ANC youth leader was a product, not of the notorious Bantu Education system, but of South African democracy, which is worth some thought.
Other columnists also got hot under the collar about Malema's statements.
Why in the world did the usually tight ranks of the ANC - SA's oldest political party established in 1912 - allow this disrespectful young man to walk off with the influential presidency of the ANC Youth League?
Where is all the old moral fibre and the impassioned commitment to truth?
History is not concerned with the likes of Malema, whose insults and innuendoes against President Mbeki and other ANC cadres will be accepted from whence they come.
History is however, deeply concerned with the phenomena that increasingly, political conferences and internal party elections in our new democracy have become destructive affairs revolving around personalities and not issues.
We face elections in less than 300 days.
Everywhere there are signs that instead of recalibrating such gains as there have been in the nation-building process - firming up democracy, strengthening social institutions and ensuring judicial independence - the current emphasis is on personal enrichment and empowerment and the short-term fulfillment of ambitions.
Julius Malema's crude statements do Jacob Zuma and the ANC no good.
They are a shallow, shameful substitute for thought and the ghastly spectre of a South Africa which nobody in his right mind wants.
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