Durban - ‘If they had their way, they would have auctioned my Twitter (account) as well because they want to take everything away from me.”
This is what Julius Malema - former ANC Youth League president whose farm and Sandton mansion recently went under the hammer - says about his newfound voice on Twitter. Announcing consultative forums for his newly formed “party” - Economic Freedom Fighters - Julius simply tweeted: “What is to be done?”
He was clearly alluding to Vladimir Lenin’s Marxist pamphlet, which used the same phrase referring to “The Burning Questions of Our Movement”.
The Twitter account for Julius’s new “party”, @EconFreedomZA, was set up two days ago. Since it came on stream (on Tuesday) it has garnered 4 792 Twitter followers - and growing. Nearly 2 000 Facebook users have “liked” the page. After his axing as ANCYL president and being stripped of his ANC membership, Malema rarely made public appearances but has 323 605 followers on his personal Twitter account. With his new platform, the Economic Freedom Fighters, he is getting hundreds of new “Tweeps” daily.
But now we have to ask who is the real Julius Malema? Please stand up.
Search the name Julius Malema on Twitter and it churns out 190 accounts under a variation of handles, but none of them was created by the real Julius Malema.
It was only in September last year that real Malema joined the 2.4 million South Africans on Twitter by taking over one of the bogus accounts. It had been created more than two years ago by a wannabe Malema and had 214 156 followers - more than any other political figure at the time.
Justifying why he had taken over the bogus account, Malema said it presented an alternative platform after his gagging. “It’s great for interaction and to express oneself.”
Despite his fall from grace, Malema’s Twitter presence continues to rise with 100 000 more followers added since he took over the account @Julius_S_Malema.
He attributes his continued popularity to people appreciating his views and wanting to hear what he has to say on issues. “Even if they don’t agree, they understand that in a democratic society it is important to engage rather than shut someone down,” he said.
According to social network monitoring website, Socialbakers, Malema’s Twitter account showed the number of people he followed declined steeply, falling to 116 on March 5.
He said he “unfollowed” people who did not add any value and this had nothing to do with this being the day his hero Venezuelan president Hugo Chaves died.
Malema now follows 121 Twitter users, including an account under the name of Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin. He said he did that “for the love of Soviet history.”
He also follows Pierre de Vos, David Bullard, Tokyo Sexwale, the ANCYL, the ANC as well as the verified account of President Jacob Zuma. “The Presidency is a very important institution and there is a need for me to keep watch of what is going on there, it is not about the person who occupies that office,” he said.
About following Barack Obama and the White House he said, “America is the selfimposed boss of the world so it’s important to know what the boss says and how it will impact on the developing world.”
Although Malema swears he would never join, he also follows Mamphela Ramphele’s newly formed “political platform” Agang. “It doesn’t present any alternative to the ANC. If I were to join any political party it would be the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC). It has strong Struggle credentials and radical ideas on how South Africa needs to change, but unfortunately does not have committed leadership, it’s a flat tyre,” he said.
He is better off not being a member of the ANC as, “I would have been in permanent trouble with them (the ANC). I wouldn’t have kept quiet about the way the ANC government under the leadership of Jacob Zuma is running the country,” he said.
He has certainly not kept quiet, openly calling on people to join the Economic Freedom Fighters to avoid a South Africa which will be “turned into a kleptocracy, with government leaders openly looting state resources and pursuing self-enrichment, and classifying reports and processes that seek to expose such callous behaviour”, he said in his press release announcing his new “party”.
Malema said he has been declared an enemy of the state and that people are now afraid to interact with him. This may be the case in real life but in the Twitter sphere and his social life, things are really picking up. “I am unedited and uncensored on Twitter, there you speak freely,” he said.
Preferring uncensored opinions, Malema follows some prominent journalists.
“I follow journalists because of the unhampered manner in which they express themselves outside the restricted editorial rooms, it is critical to get to know their real thoughts.”
He believes one needs to strike a balance in life and on Twitter. “It’s not only about following socialites and celebrities but also important people in economics and politics.”
With a little more time on his hands Malema said he has become “a real youth, enjoying life, going dancing, socialising and jolling, staying in clubs and shebeens until the early hours.”
Malema is also studying towards a political science degree. “It (politics) is my life, it’s not an office. There’s never been a break in my life politically, I’m still very politically active.”
Editor of Stuff magazine and award-winning ICT journalist Toby Shapshak attributes Malema’s Twitter fame to people’s curiosity. “Julius Malema is a public oddity, a controversial public figure and people are still interested in him especially as his various legal battles run their course.”
“Twitter is a direct channel to fans and it’s a kind of a perverse thing to watch how a public figure that is crashing and burning attracts so much attention,” he said.
Another example of the morbid fascination with celebrity crashing and burning, says Shapshak, is Oscar Pistorius whose last tweet was the night before the shooting of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
However, Pistorius still has the 11th highest number of followers of all Twitter profiles and is second in the sports-only category with 316 020 followers.
Shapshak said this was because, “people are fascinated by the implosion of someone in the public eye”.
Reeva Steenkamp’s account soared to 37 500 followers shortly after she died. “Unfortunately, there is a kind of morbid fascination around this kind of event,” said Shapshak.
However, her account is now one of the top-five fastest declining even though it is still the 18th most-followed celebrity profile in the country. According to Tweettails.com Oscar was one of her top 10 most mentioned users and she used, “hahaha, lol and xxx” more than any other words in her Tweets.
Shapshak describes Twitter as a marketing tool and a direct channel to anyone who is interested in someone or something. “Oscar’s brother suddenly became very active on Twitter trying to present a different picture of Oscar than what was being portrayed. Who people follow is news related, Twitter is a tool to make a public statement - a form of simple syndication - that provides followers with specific information on whatever topic they’re interested in.”
Daily News