Julius Malema has a reputation for overcoming boundaries.
His speeches at otherwise ordinary parliamentary sessions light up social media. The party he built from the ground up almost eleven years ago has grown into South Africa’s third largest party and his reach extends not only across the country but also elsewhere on the continent.
His vitality, coupled with a radical ideology, inspired many disaffected South Africans. But the 43-year-old leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has many critics who accuse him of opportunism and point out that he has already been convicted twice for hate speech.
He has divided opinions, but has also managed to shape his party into a disciplined force that sets the agenda in some policy areas.
Mr Malema, or “Juju” as he is sometimes called, was expelled from the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in 2012 and has positioned the EFF as the true heir to the ANC’s radical agenda and exposed the ruling party’s left flank.
The EFF commander-in-chief’s relentless focus on inequality in South Africa and the ANC’s failure to redistribute land from the white minority to the black majority has cost support to his former party, which led the fight against apartheid.
In the 2019 general election, the EFF won almost 11% of the vote and 44 seats in parliament. Pollsters Ipsos believe the party could do similarly this year.
Meanwhile, several polls predict the ANC could win less than 50% of the vote for the first time in 30 years and could lose its majority in parliament.
Although Mr Malema and his colleagues currently belong to a minority party, they are arguably the most visible politicians in Parliament. They wear red overalls meant to symbolize their solidarity with South African workers, and their political style has led to fist fights and strikes in the National Assembly.
Mr Malema himself is known for stirring up controversy – over the course of his political career he has offended a wide range of people, from women’s rights groups to white farmers to his own political bosses.
He was convicted twice of using hate speech – in 2010 and 2011 – first for comments made about the woman who accused the former president Jacob Zuma for rape and then for singing the song “Shoot the Boer (African).”
The EFF leader sparked a row just last year when he told crowds at a protest against Israel over the war in Gaza: “When the EFF takes power next year, they will arm Hamas and make sure Hamas is over have the necessary equipment.” fight for their people.
The Palestinian group Hamas, or in some cases just its armed wing, is considered a terrorist group by Israel, the US, the EU, the UK and other organizations.
And when Mr. Malema spoke to his supporters in 2016 about the slow pace of land distribution, he warned: “The land will be taken away by any means possible.”
“We are not calling for the slaughter of white people. At least not at the moment. What we are calling for is the peaceful occupation of land, and we owe no one an apology for that.”
Mr. Malema’s supporters enjoy the combative rhetoric, and he remains an inspirational speaker whose sharp focus on the rights of poor black South Africans has won him their love.
He is particularly popular with young people – a target group coveted by politicians who know full well that the average age in South Africa is 28 years old. Mr Malema has also made waves traveling to other African countries such as Ghana, Liberia and Kenya.
Prof PLO Lumumba, chairman of the Pan-African Institute, which hosted Mr Malema in Kenya, told the BBC last year: “Malema represents a younger generation of Africans who are now beginning to articulate Pan-African issues in a way that appeals to critical masses appeals.” .”
However, Mr Malema is unlikely to win many votes in his home country outside of his “loyal but small” following, says political analyst Richard Calland.
“I think that Malema’s brand of destabilizing, anti-establishment… is militant politics, sometimes even violent politics – I just don’t think it resonates with the general public.”
Mr Malema was born in 1981 and was raised by his mother Flora, a domestic worker. He grew up in Seshego, a township in the northern province of Limpopo.
His leaked school-leaving results showed that the future hothead was unlikely to get away with a below-average result. It is a far cry from the man who earned two university degrees while leading the EFF to political prominence.
Mr Malema says he joined the ANC’s young pioneer movement at the age of nine, where he was trained in armed resistance, and it took him just five years to become regional leader of the ANC Youth League.
But it was his election as leader of the ANC Youth League in 2008 that made him a major player in national politics.
His first acts as leader were to loudly campaign for Mr Zuma to take over – first as ANC chief and later as president – and telling crowds of supporters that he would “kill for Zuma”.
But shortly after Mr Malema became president in 2009, Mr Malema’s relationship with Mr Zuma deteriorated. Mr Malema accused his former ally of ignoring the poor voters who brought him to power. After his expulsion from the ANC, he founded the EFF in 2013.
The idea that the ANC has distanced itself from its support base and core values has remained its theme.
In the introduction to the EFF’s 2024 manifesto, Mr Malema said the ANC had “reproduced and exacerbated the economic inequalities of apartheid”.
The manifesto promised to create jobs for millions of unemployed people, end South Africa’s ongoing power outages and nationalize key parts of the economy such as mines and banks.
However, Mr Malema has in the past been accused of betraying the left-wing ideology he espoused.
In 2013, the South African Revenue Service said the party leader owed more than $1 million (£865,000) in unpaid taxes.
To clear the tax arrears, Mr Malema had to sell an unfinished mansion in the upscale Johannesburg suburb of Sandton, which also included a cinema room and a cigar lounge.
He was also charged with fraud and corruption in connection with a government contract. After three years, the charges were dismissed in 2015 because of long delays in trial, a judge ruled.
He always denied the allegations and said they were politically motivated.
In 2018, Mr Malema was part of a group accused of looting about 2 billion rand ($108 million; £86 million) from a bank called VBS. Mr Malema denied the allegations and a parliamentary inquiry into the matter concluded with no results as investigators said they did not have “sufficient information”.
Mr Malema’s appeal remains virtually unchanged despite the controversies of the last decade, but new challenges have emerged this year.
“Malema goes into the elections with a firm lead for the party, but not as decisively as before,” says Paddy Harper, journalist for the South African newspaper Mail & Guardian.
He points to reported tensions between Mr Malema and his deputy Floyd Shivambu, as well as the EFF’s poor showing in recent by-elections.
The EFF also faces competition from uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), a party founded just last year and led by former president Jacob Zuma. According to Ipsos, MK has recruited some EFF supporters, particularly in Mr Zuma’s home province of KwaZulu-Nata.
Whether these obstacles will hamper Mr Malema, the serial defier of the odds, remains to be seen.
What we do know is that the radical leader, with the trademark energy that has won him a legion of loyal fans, has launched a campaign to wrest the country from ANC rule.
Back in February, thousands of supporters in red party regalia rioted when Mr Malema showed up to launch the EFF manifesto.
Holding a copy of the document, he declared to the admiring crowd: “This is the weapon that will be used against the enemy of our revolution!”
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