Erstellt am: 31. 8. 2011 - 14:36 Uhr

Storms ahead for the "Rainbow Nation"

Reality Check: Julius Malema splits the ANC and Syria is looking ahead to a post-Assad era

A power struggle in South Africa

There is an interesting situation developing within the African National Congress (the ANC) in South Africa. It involves a battle for the future direction of the party and it could be crucial in determining the way forward for South Africa.

As we come to the end of summer, the news is swinging between events in Libya and Syria, but there are important matters in other parts of the world. South Africa has largely been quiet recently, but a protest outside the ANC’s headquarters yesterday showed a less than harmonious face of the Rainbow Nation. It all revolves around Julius Malema.

A Kingmaker

For the last 17 years, South Africa’s fortunes have been guided by the ANC, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. Now, the party probably faces its greatest challenge to date in the shape of Julius Malema. He’s the leader of the ANC’s youth wing, and for the past few years has been channeling the disillusionment felt by many young black South Africans into rants against white South Africans, his own critics and the government. He was tolerated among the top echelons of the ANC mainly because he is seen as a kingmaker, able to garner hundreds of thousands of votes for any potential leader, and he was instrumental Jacob Zuma’s bid to take over the presidency from Thabo Mbeki. In fact Zuma himself once described Malema as “the future leader of South Africa”

"Shoot the boer" song

But Malema has become more of an embarrassment of late. Last year he made a controversial trip to Zimbabwe and even declared ANC support for Robert Mugabe. He also ignores polite requests to refrain from singing verses from the controversial "Shoot the boer" song - "boer" being the Afrikaans word for “farmer” and also a derogatory way to describe a white person in South Africa. On top of all this, he announced that Botswana’s government should be overthrown, and that led to his current appearance before a disciplinary hearing.

A young and fragile nation

South Africa appeared to be making so much progress, in fact it broke new ground when, in 2006, it became the first African country to legalize gay marriage. But the appearance of Julius Malema on the scene shows that steps could go the other way. His polarizing opinions have lead to clashes on the streets, which show that this is still a very young and fragile nation, vulnerable to firebrands like Julius Malema who offer simple slogans and violent rhetoric as solutions to countrywide problems. Karen Allen has spent many years working as a journalist in Johannesburg and in today’s Reality Check I asked her whether this if a pivotal moment for the ANC and the Rainbow Nation as a whole.

Syria prepares for the fall of Assad

While Syria's president Assad oversees a brutal crackdown on protesters, and tries to give the impression that he is firmly in control, his opponents are already planning for the time after his fall. Middle East Expert, Rosemary Hollis, says there are striking parallels with Libya, but it is still unclear how it will all play out.

FM4 Reality Check

Monday to friday from 12 to 14. And after the show via Podcast or fm4.orf.at/realitycheck.