Julius Sello Malema Julius Malema was born on March 3, 1981. From an early age he was committed to helping the African National Congress promote its agenda in South Africa. At the age of 9 he joined the ANC’s Masupatsela and one of his jobs was to go around and remove the National Party posters in his city. From that point on, his career in politics continued on a meteoric rise through the ANC. He was elected the Youth League branch chairman in Seshego and the regional chairman in 1995. In 1997 he was elected as the chairman of the Congress of South African Students for the Limpopo province and eventually was elected president of the organization in 2001. In 2008, Malema was elected as the President of the ANC Youth League by receiving 52% of the vote over Saki Mofohenkg. The election was marred by rumors of intimidation and fraud. Malema himself said that he participated in “unbecoming conduct”. This was an early indicator of things that were to come for Malema in his political career. In April of 2010 Malema went to Zimbabwe as a representative of the ANC. While there he ruffled some feathers of the ANC leadership by praising the land and mine seizure policy of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. He also made enemies of the Zimbabwean Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, because he called Tsvangirai and his movement an ally of Imperialists. He also ran afoul of the Youth organizations in Zimbabwe because they felt his statements and policies were racial and full of corruption. When Malema returned to South Africa, the ANC Youth League released a statement encouraging black South Africans to follow the example of young people in Zimbabwe and engage in agriculture to reduce their dependence on white farmers. While Malema’s visit to Zimbabwe was initially blessed by President Zuma, the ANC tried to distance itself from the ANC Youth League’s support of ZANU-PF. Shortly after this visit Malema faced disciplinary action from the ANC for basically causing chaos in the party. He faced charges related to his endorsement of Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party, an incident where he had verbally attacked a BBC reporter for calling into question Malema’s condemnation of the MDC for having offices in affluent Sandton, when in fact Malema himself lived there, Malema’s comments on the murder of Eugene Terre Blanche, and Malema’s comparing President Zuma to his unfavorable predecessor Thabo Mbecki. After the hearings, Malema agreed to make a public apology, pay a fine, and attend anger management classes. Part of the findings also stated that he could possibly be suspended from the ANC if he got into more trouble within 2 years. After this point in time Malema became more and more aggressive with his calls for a nationalization of land, mines, and banks. He also became a much more vocal opponant of President Zuma and the ruling ANC party. Most of Malema’s rallies ended in some kind of violence. The final straw that broke the ANC party was when Malema expressed his personal views that the ANC Youth League would establish a “Botswana command team” that would work to unite all opposition forces in Botswana to oppose what Malema deemed as a puppet regime led by the Botswana Democratic Party. His statement directly conflicted with ANC policy. As a result of this, he was again charged and forced to go through disciplinary hearings. He was suspended from the ANC party for 5 years. After an appeal, Malema was actually expelled from the party and ordered to vacate his position of ANC Youth League President. Since the expulsion Malema has faced many charges of corruption, hate speech, fraud, and money laundering. One would venture to say that a majority of these charges are a result of his harsh and outspoken stand against the governing ANC party. After expulsion from the ANC, Malema continued to fight for the nationalization of the land and mines. He held many rallies and took many trips around the country to gather support for his issues.
