If Malema thinks we're Mickey Mouse, he must be Goofy

African National Congress Youth League president Julius Malema believes that people outraged by his remarks regarding President Zuma’s rape accuser are Mickey Mouses and that they have been put up to charging him by whites who wish to ridicule the ANC.

This is so wrong on so many levels it’s hard to decide where to begin.

First and foremost, lest anyone forget, South Africa has one of the highest incidents of rape in the world. By trivialising the incident — while occupying the position he holds — sends the worst possible signal to both rapists and women.

Secondly, the people he has insulted the most are black women, by far the largest group of victims, who are — if I am following his logic in blaming whites — incapable of being outraged by the weak efforts to tackle this scourge, not unhappy with his remarks and incapable of independent thinking.

Who died and gave Malema the power to declare the ANC a single race party? I believe that the party shed its blacks-only image quite a while ago and currently represents all races and cultures in South Africa. If that be so, are the whites targeting only the blacks within the ANC? This hardly underpins the achievements of presidents Mandela, Mbeki, Motlanthe and now President Jacob Zuma in their efforts to unite the country.

If Malema stands behind the political schools aimed at elevating the levels of statesmanship, diplomacy and debate then his insensitivity to rape victims, white South Africans and women, makes him a prime candidate for his own school.

In the position of ANCYL president he cannot be permitted to continue alienating whole groups as he did prior to the election with regard to the former president, the Mbeki faction of the ANC, the judiciary, the NPA and quite frankly anyone who disagreed with Zuma.