Malema and the height of chutzpah

Like many of you lot I read about the African National Congress Youth League’s decision to close down its controversial investment wing Lembede with interest. There is, after all, nothing more fascinating than the latest goings on down at ANCYL headquarters.

In essence, ANCYL President Julius Malema told reporters that they had had it with this lot: “We are closing it down and then we are concentrating on other things,” Malema told reporters in Johannesburg.

“Lembede has a very bad image. It’s not our problem, we, the current leadership, never messed up Lembede.”

“And all its assets will be [closed] transferred to a development trust, whose mandate will be confined to fund raising and social responsibility programmes of the ANCYL,” said Malema.

Gobodo auditors investigating the financial affairs of Lembede Investment Holdings — the financial arm of the African National Congress Youth League — found signs of irregularities, the Sunday Times reported at the weekend.

Auditors pointed to dubious bookkeeping and suspicious financial activities.

The report found that the previous management had breached the Companies Act, failed to keep financial records of its deals and failed to conduct audits of financial statements since its establishment in 2000.

According to the Sunday Times, about R436-million from 32 suspected dubious deals was unaccounted for.

The auditors recommended that several former leaders be questioned about the missing money.

The Democratic Alliance’s Jack Bloom has laid nine charges of fraud and corruption against the ANCYL and Lembede.

ANCYL treasurer-general and Lembede chairperson Pule Mabe has said the board would not take action against the previous management (according to the Times)

With charges laid by the DA, R436-million unaccounted for and the decision to close down Lembede, you would have thought that the ANCYL would go to ground for a bit.

At least on anything to do with matters financial.

Not a bit of it, as former Lembede CEO Songezo Mjongile accused Malema of “besmirching his name”.

Mjongile said the league’s forensic investigation into Lembede — led by auditors Gobodo — was merely a “publicity stunt” aimed at embarrassing former leaders.

But Mjongile said that everything conducted by Lembede was above board and he had accounted for every cent.

“Lembede was not Songezo’s company, but the youth league’s company, and we accounted to the NEC about all the activities of the league. The board of Lembede has always been chaired by the ANC Youth League treasurers, who diligently and ably led the company.

“So if these boys had an interest in finding out what happened in Lembede, they would have contacted previous leadership. They were just being mischievous and wanted to persecute people through the media,” said Mjongile. (according to IOL).

So, no love lost there.

Of course the fact that the former leadership say the R436-million is there if you had only bothered to ask us where it is and the current team say that it’s not there but we aren’t pressing charges anyway, lends itself to the view that when it comes to money that the ANCYL are hardly likely to be the breeding ground for the next Smith or Keynes.

Indeed in matters financial, their best bet would be to holding the 2009 Best Bare Buttock Competition whenever the subject is raised.

Once again however it is anything but as Malema this time has a go at President Zuma :

ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema has slammed President Jacob Zuma’s appointment of “minorities” to strategic economic positions, saying this fuelled a perception that Africans were not capable of running these portfolios.

Asked on Thursday if the youth league welcomed the recent appointment of Gill Marcus as Reserve Bank governor, Malema said he was “worried” that only minorities had been appointed by Zuma to head key economic ministries and the central bank.

He said that in Zuma’s government Africans had been reduced to running the security cluster.

“Why is the African leadership not given an opportunity to occupy strategic positions in the economic sector? If you look at the security cluster, it is all Africans. Are we reduced to security? (Dispatch)

All of the above took place in a matter of three or four days.

I think someone needs to point out to the ANCYL that the economy of South Africa has performed rather well under the careful eye of former president Thabo Mbeki, Tito Mboweni and Trevor Manuel. It shows signs of continuing in the same way under President Zuma aided by Pravin Ghordin and Gill Marcus. Three of those six names are not from the minorities.

As we witnessed this week, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton even praised the sound economic approach of South Africa.

Seen in this light — and perhaps until the ANCYL finds the missing R436-million — it might be best if they leave the selection of Cabinet and key posts to wiser heads.

Just ask Mjongile he’ll tell you where to go.

Cartoon: Julius Malema does the Math