- Malema does not work for government. Why can he not own a business?
- If his business has been given tenders preferentially because it is owned by Julius Malema, then that is definitely wrong. But the wrong would be primarily with those awarding tenders. If the government officials awarding tenders do so to curry political favour, then they should be brought to book. The same goes if they award tenders to enrich themselves, their families, their friends, or to get kick backs from companies.
- Malema has also not been the ANCYL president forever... is it only the president that the papers say should not benefit from private businesses? What about the second in command? What about local municipal ANCYL leaders? Of course they can have their own businesses. So why can't Malema?
- Malema makes the point that he and his circle of friends and age-mates in the ANC are young with minimal financial responsibilities, and earn good salaries. So they legitimately have more money than they need, and can afford up market lifestyles. I think this is a very reasonable comment. Even if he is earning around R20000 per month, that is a good salary if you don't have big expenses. And if he is receiving an income from business ownership, all the more. And if his friends are doing even better than this in the private sector or in government positions, I think it is likely that they can honestly afford nice cars, nice clothes, and fancy parties.
The second is a general disapproval of his lavish lifestyle.
A sad fact about human nature is that we tend to resent people who do well for themselves. And justify this by assuming that their success must be due to some sort of illegal or immoral means. The same way people accuse successful foreigners of all sorts of things.
People also tell themselves that he is selling out his own struggle, that he is hypocritical to stand for the poor when he lives this opulent lifestyle. But if you have money, you have money. As long as you don't forget where you come from, to use Malema's own words.
On a personal note, I find excessive displays of wealth a bit distasteful. I recently had to work hard to retain my high opinion of a man I know after seeing his car - it was absurdly lavish. And am not a fan of the hard partying big money spending materialistic thing these ANCYL guys have got going.
So on a personal level I can see Malema's lifestyle and think that it reflects badly on his character (I do). And if I am ever in a position to vote for or against him I can vote against him on that basis.
But as things stand, he is not accountable to me. His money is his own, and he can spend it however he chooses.
4 comments:
My take on the thing is a little different: all evidence *does* point to corruption - how does a guy with no matric and no experience in a job outside of the ANCYL make millions - combined with his known personality: he is a bully and wields mobs like massive blunt instrument. Every scrap of evidence points me to corruption.
What aggravates this, though, is that he has been playing the utter hypocrite. He demands transparency for things that he politically wants to attack, continually puts himself in the spotlight... and then throws a screaming hissy fit when people ask about the source of his wealth, that no-one in his position should have access to.
He holds much political capital, and all the tenders that have been accepted were from the government, not private jobs that he may have tendered for. And while you're right - those offering the tenders are at fault - don't forget that it's as easy to assume bullying and threats from the very vocal ANCYL president as it is to assume that they want to curry favour.
I accept that my opinion is under-informed. I'll accept that with evidence, my view could be swayed. But for the moment, everything I've seen points more and more towards corruption as the source of his affluence, and that is what I have a problem with.
"Every scrap of evidence points me to corruption."
What evidence?
He has a business, more than one I think I read. And we already know that he earns at least R20000 per month from the ANC. Top that with probably a house and car allowance, and his income from his businesses.
Then add to that the fact that he has tons of rich friends who probably all want to be his bff - he probably doesn't pay for all that much of his lifestyle himself.
"What aggravates this, though, is that he has been playing the utter hypocrite."
Not if his money is legitimate. And he hasn't thrown a hissy fit about this in the least.
And these are businesses he OWNS, not WORKS FOR. Someone working for a business he owns (probably owns part of) wrote a tender proposal, and it was awarded. I *seriously* doubt he has anything to do with the day to day running of these businesses.
If some small scale political guy who got the tender proposal knew it was Malema's company and thought he would give them favour to use as political leverage later, that REALLY is not Malema's fault.
Come now, you don't actually see Malema writing tender proposals, do you?
No actual evidence points to corruption, only assumptions you have made about him. He is uneducated, so he can't have a legitimate business. He is unethical and would naturally manipulate the tender system.
I am reading the article in the Sunday Times at the moment, and it is actually PATHETIC. Go and read it and you will see a fabulous example of media bias. They have a shortage of actual facts, but they insinuate all over the place. Totally manipulating their readers...
"... tenders from home province Limpopo, where he wields influence" - i.e. he must be influencing the tender process!!! (No proof, just insinuation)
"SGL engineering... have been awarded dozens of contracts... often from cash-strapped municipalities in Limpopo" - i.e. he is stealing from his own people, the poorest of the poor! Taking advantage of them!! (Which there is no proof of, and - here's the thing - they don't ask the obvious question: "Is SGL fulfilling the contracts decently? Are they building good roads/bridges/building/whatever? Are these municipalities doing well investing in them." No, they don't even ask this most obvious question. There is a brief mention: "While the public documents reveal that some of the projects were completed on schedule, the majority were not" - please man, construction projects never finish on schedule. Could they not dig up any more dirt than this?)
"Malema, the son of a former domestic worker, matriculated in 2001..." i.e. how could this idiot own a successful company?
Then they accompany the article with a pic of him stuffing his face with cake behind a couple of champaign bottles.
Hah, the Sunday Times is playing us.
There may even be some dodginess in his businesses, but the ST article certainly doesn't present enough evidence to back that claim.
Lots of heresay, TONS of insinuation, a whole lot of insults, and thats about it.
And the actual car that Malema owns is apparently a 2005 Audi A4 (according to th Sunday Times article). Nice, but not that big a deal.
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