EXTRACT
The power of Malema’s rhetoric and populism is huge. He exhorts, he cajoles, he makes up enemies (Indians and journalists), and he picks issues to exploit – all this fires up his supporters. Jacob Zuma may have been wrong back in the early 2010s when he said Malema would be president of SA, but he wasn’t wrong about Malema’s significance.
Look at Malema’s mobilisation tactics on land, race and the economy. Look at how he has turned the land restitution debate and the resultant parliamentary hearings into a referendum on the new SA and a debate on section 25 (the property clause) of the constitution even when that is not at all the issue here.
Whenever Malema shouts the ANC gets the shakes and adopts his policies. As he gains confidence, the ANC loses its resoluteness.