Julius Malema background and Zuma Cartoon

It seems everyone is taking the piss at poor Malema’s expense at the moment – perhaps a little background on the man behind the cartoon is in order:

Julius Malema, now 27, was born in Seshego in Limpopo province, South Africa. He is an only child of a single parent – his upbringing was tough. He spent a number of years as a student activist and was elected Cosas president in 2000. Despite his time there being quite controversial, he was later elected provincial secretary of the Limpopo youth league in 2003.

Later Julius was elected president of the ANCYL. He has since moved into a middle-class suburb of Johannesburg. “I grew up poor. I had no access to restaurants. This is where I choose to have my meetings, here in my office. What would people say if they saw me all over the place, in restaurants, with this person and that person?” Surprisingly, he sounds like a humble man – not the totally uncouth ass that his public comments usually make him out to be.

Malema says he was drawn to politics early in life, largely as a result of growing up poor. Julius said: “I have been in politics since the age of nine. I never played sport or sang in the choir. Every day, after school, I went for political education. My principals are engrained.” Judging by Julius Malema’s matric results many South Africans feel he should have tried to get some basic education engrained too.

A recent article quoted people close to him as saying “he owes his being to his position in the means of production” and that Malema will never forget he grew up as a “peasant”. Malema’s community appeal is thought to be derived from the general public’s association with his personal struggle against poverty.

Julius has committed himself to never lying to the media. “If there is a party position that we do not want to be made public, I will say ‘no comment’. I will not lie.” This begs the question whether the manic ‘Kill for Zuma’ comments he made formed part of the ANC party position. Perhaps he is following Sarah Palin’s strategy as indicated in an earlier Julius Malema cartoon, and doing so quite effectively at that.

Last week Zuma’s instruction for Malema to tone down his public crazy talk about killing for him had some success – but only briefly. Malema went on to verbally attack without using the word kill calling co-leader of the Cope party, Sam Shilowa a security guard amongst other things.

If you enjoyed this, also check out the Zuma Zuma Promises Promises cartoon posted a few days back on Wonkie.