in the country’s wealth,” and even of a right of “the people” to literally
own such wealth. I will explore these lines of populist assertion using the
recent public statements of the South African politician Julius Malema.
Malema has accumulated a legion of detractors, who see him as a kind of
clown or petty criminal at best (a “tenderpreneur” who has enriched himself
via his personal links with anc cronies) and a dangerously illiberal
demagogue at worst. And there is no doubt that Malema’s undisciplined
and ethically questionable conduct has led him into very serious po�liti�cal
and personal setbacks (the loss of his post as anc Youth League president
as well as legal problems that may yet lead to his prosecution and
conviction for serious crimes). But the crowds of enthusiastic supporters
that he and his new poÂ�litiÂ�cal party (the “Economic Freedom Fighters,” or
eff) have attracted in recent years among the poor and working classes,
together with the level of alarm and anxiety thereby provoked among the
propertied, suggest there is more going on �here than just buffoonery or
criminality. Instead, I suggest, the Malema phenomenon provides a particularly
clear window into a powerful strand of vernacular thinking about
property, ownÂ�ership, and justice. And whether or not Malema’s personal
po�liti�cal star is now rising or falling (few seem to be sure), we have surely
not seen the last of the sensibility to which he has given such alarmingly
unfiltered voice.