{"id":13395,"date":"2014-03-16T13:56:52","date_gmt":"2014-03-16T13:56:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/praag.org\/?p=13395"},"modified":"2014-03-16T13:56:52","modified_gmt":"2014-03-16T13:56:52","slug":"malema-targets-big-spenders-says-ft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praag.org\/?p=13395","title":{"rendered":"Malema targets big spenders says FT"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MalemaFT\"<\/a>The Financial Times carried this story titled: Malema targets big game in ANC\u2019s heartland<\/em> on the front page:<\/p>\n

\n

Sitting in a plush lodge on the edge of Kruger National Park, the self-styled<\/p>\n

revolutionary and spokesman for South Africa\u2019s dispossessed outlines calmly his\u00a0plans to expropriate land from white farmers, and nationalise banks and mines in\u00a0Africa\u2019s largest economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are worse than the way we were during apartheid,\u201d he tells the Financial Times\u00a0during a 90 minute interview. \u201cThe only thing that has changed is the government of\u00a0white people has been replaced with a government of black people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The stout, boyish-looking 33-year-old, dressed in black tracksuit and black\u00a0trainers, is a highly divisive figure. To critics, including many businesspeople, he\u00a0is an opportunistic rabble-rouser tainted by corruption allegations. To supporters,\u00a0he is a rare voice speaking to the divisions enduring in one of the world\u2019s more\u00a0unequal societies despite strides taken since the end of white rule.<\/p>\n

Campaigning to the left of the ruling African National Congress he aspires to steal\u00a0votes from the ruling party\u2019s heartland, the rural and urban black poor, in\u00a0elections on May 7. They are widely expected to be the most closely contested since\u00a0the end of apartheid 20 years ago.<\/p>\n

Mr Malema described president Jacob Zuma \u2013 the man he helped propel to the country\u2019s\u00a0top job \u2013 as a \u201cmonster\u201d, and denounced the ANC\u2019s 20-year record in power. He\u00a0formally launched his Economic Freedom Fighters in October after being expelled from the ANC \u2013 where he led the militant youth league \u2013 for indiscipline in 2012.<\/p>\n

He makes the point that while under the ANC more black people may have gained access\u00a0to water and electricity, the water is often not clean and the electricity\u00a0connection does not guarantee power. \u201cSo you are actually in more pain because these\u00a0things are closer to you and, close as they are, you cannot use them,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

This message resonates with the frustrated black majority in a country where youth\u00a0unemployment is at least 50 per cent, and almost 40 per cent of the population live\u00a0below the poverty line. It also carries weight with blacks of all classes who\u00a0believe they are still economically marginalised in a country where the corporate\u00a0world remains predominantly in white hands.<\/p>\n

The challenge for Mr Malema is to turn disgruntlement into votes and survive court\u00a0cases that could derail his career.<\/p>\n

The politician, whose penchant for designer watches has come to symbolise his\u00a0perceived opulent lifestyle, has had his properties auctioned off as the revenue\u00a0authority has pursued him for R16m ($1.5m) in outstanding taxes. He is fighting a\u00a0sequestration order and says he is willing to make a revised offer to resolve the\u00a0matter.<\/p>\n

Mr Malema has courted controversy in the past by saluting President Robert Mugabe of\u00a0Zimbabwe but he says the EFF would not follow the path of Zimbabwe, where the forced\u00a0and often violent seizure of white-owned land triggered a collapse of the economy.<\/p>\n

But he says he wants government to be the custodian of land that grants licences to\u00a0users and insists the state should control 60 per cent of mines.<\/p>\n

\u201cForeign investors who are prepared to share with South Africans are more than\u00a0welcome,\u201d he says. \u201cBut if it is about individualism and maximisation of profit to\u00a0the exclusion of indigenous people, such a foreign investor will not be\u00a0entertained.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Malema and the EFF have brought a new dimension to the country\u2019s political\u00a0landscape. Pallo Jordan, an ANC intellectual, has said the ANC \u201cmight opt for more\u00a0radical policies\u201d if it faces an effective challenge from the left, \u201crealigning\u00a0South African politics in directions that few will have anticipated\u201d.<\/p>\n

The other threat to the ANC comes from the Democratic Alliance, the main opposition\u00a0party. But it is still viewed by many \u2013 fairly or not \u2013 as a largely white party.<\/p>\n

Yet for all his outward confidence Mr Malema acknowledges the campaign against the\u00a0well-oiled ANC election machinery is a difficult one. And touting his radical\u00a0policies can be a hindrance when seeking financial backers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a very difficult campaign in that we do not have resources and our policies\u00a0are such that those who own resources will never finance us,\u201d Mr Malema says.\u00a0\u201cElections are very expensive things in South Africa, but if we had resources we\u00a0would remove the ANC from power tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Source: FT. By Lionel Barber, Andrew England & Javier Blas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Financial Times carried this story titled: Malema targets big game in ANC\u2019s heartland on the front page: Sitting in a plush lodge on the edge of Kruger National Park, the self-styled revolutionary and spokesman for South Africa\u2019s dispossessed outlines calmly his\u00a0plans to expropriate land from white farmers, and nationalise banks and mines in\u00a0Africa\u2019s largest … Continue reading “Malema targets big spenders says FT”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[64,3282,8649,23,346],"class_list":["post-13395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-south-africa","tag-anc","tag-eff","tag-ft","tag-julius-malema","tag-malema"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/praag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/MalemaFT.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13395"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13397,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13395\/revisions\/13397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}