Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The African National Congress is the party of Nelson Mandela, the party of the “Rainbow Nation.” But the leader of the ANC’s Youth League doesn’t seem to be on board. Julius Malema is known for his fiery racial rhetoric. And it’s resonating with some black South Africans who feel not enough has changed since apartheid. The leadership of the ANC is considering disciplinary action against Malema. The World’s Laura Lynch examines Malema’s past and future in South African politics. Her report begins on Robben Island off the coast of Cape Town.Download MP3 (photo: Laura Lynch)

• BBC coverage
• ANC Youth League

Read the Transcript
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

MARCO WERMAN:  Next we hear about a challenge facing South Africa’s ruling party.  The African National Congress is the party of Nelson Mandela, the party of the Rainbow Nation, but the leader of the ANC’s Youth League doesn’t seem to be on board.  Julius Malema is known for his fiery racial rhetoric and it’s resonating with some black South Africans who feel not enough has changed since apartheid.  The leadership of the ANC is considering disciplinary action against Malema.  The World’s Laura Lynch examines Malema’s past and future in South African politics.  Her report begins on Robben Island, off the coast of Cape Town.

LAURA LYNCH:  Julius Malema began his life in politics at the age of nine attending rallies, watching and listening.  At the same time Thubasi Mabaso, convicted of planting a bomb for the ANC, was sitting in his cell at the infamous Robben Island Prison.

THUBASI MABASO:  Every day.  Every day this how they do.

LYNCH: The crash of the cell door closing punctuated the end of the day for Mabaso.  He was released in 1991 and now works here as a Prison Guide.  Standing in his old cell, Mabaso recalls his release and the first post-apartheid election in 1994.

MABASO: ’94 I was so excited.  It was exciting for everyone.  I remember.

LYNCH: Mabaso’s struggle to live in a nation where all races are equal still provokes powerful feelings.  And it’s why he believes Julius Malema is doing damage to the dream he fought for.  Mabaso said that to Malema’s face when he met him last year.

MABASO: We are a ruling party and we need to show people an example but utterances like what you say sometimes are dangerous.

LYNCH: Malema recently defied a court order banning this old ANC song “Kill the Boer” or “Kill the White Man”.  He also traveled to Zimbabwe and endorsed Robert Mugabe, despite the ANC’s official neutrality on Zimbabwe’s politics.  And then came this, a confrontation with a BBC reporter in Johannesburg.

JULIUS MALEMA:  Don’t come here with that white tendency, not here.  You can do it somewhere else, not here.

LYNCH: Malema has only been ANC Youth Leader for two years.  He was raised by a single mother in a poor township and he struggled at school, yet he’s still touted by some as a potential leader.  Johannes, a student at the University of the Western Cape is hoping Malema will rise to the top.

JOHANNES:  I’m really behind him.  Because I really believe some of the issues, especially to do wit the current status of the country now, some of the issues need to be tackled seriously.  Like the race issue.

LYNCH: Measuring Malema’s influence isn’t easy.  He grabs headlines and generates controversy.  And the Youth League created by Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo and Walter Sisulu plays a powerful role in party politics.  But former ANC loyalist Rhoda Kadalie says Malema is no Mandela.

RHODA KADALIE:  I was in the struggle when he was in nappies and I resent a buffoon like him being portrayed to me as a potential leader.

LYNCH: Still, Kadalie says she understands how Malema has grabbed so much power.

KADALIE: Malema is a creation of the ANC.  He ushered Zuma into the Presidency, and now he thinks that he can get away with murder, and he does.

LYNCH: Malema did back Zuma in the contest for the Presidency, support Zuma was only too happy to have, even wit the youth leader used language like this:

MALEMA:  We are prepared to die for Zuma.  We are prepared to take up arms and kill for Zuma.

LYNCH: There are those who say Malema’s reputation as a firebrand isn’t about championing the cause of poor black South Africans, instead it’s meant to distract the public from corruption allegations against him.  But the fact remains, he’s able to tap into the anger of millions and the ANC leadership knows that.

MABASO: You see this place, it was clean.  It was nice and green.  We maintain it.

LYNCH: Mabaso is sitting beside the field he and the other prisoners used as a soccer pitch all those years ago.  As South Africa prepares to host the World Cup, Mabaso worries about what kind of message Julius Malema is sending out.  Two days ago Mabaso was asked to intervene in a fight between two rival gangs of boys in his township.  When he arrived, he says they were singing Kill the Boer, hearing that, says Mabaso made him shudder.  For The World, I’m Laura Lynch on Robben Island

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.