JUSTICE MALALA: Malema taught Trump a few tricks

Julius Malema of the EFF, they who are straining every sinew of their rather well-fed bodies in defence of the looters of VBS Mutual Bank, should be proud. It isn’t easy to say you taught US President Donald Trump a trick or two, but Malema can certainly claim the credit.

Remember how, back in 2010, Malema caused a global sensation when he ejected a BBC reporter from an ANC Youth League press conference, calling him a "bloody agent" who had a "white tendency"? Malema flew into a rage when journalist Jonah Fisher called him out for slamming the Zimbabwe opposition for criticising his hero Robert Mugabe from their offices in Sandton.

"But you live in Sandton," said Fisher, pointing out the hypocrisy of the whole thing.

Malema erupted and called on the Luthuli House heavies to throw Fisher out. "This is not a newsroom!" he fulminated. "This is a revolutionary house and you don’t come here with that tendency. Don’t come here with that white tendency. Not here. You can do it somewhere else. Not here. If you’ve got a tendency of undermining blacks, even where you work, you are in the wrong place. Here you are in the wrong place."

What a lovely performance. We all laughed, but some across the globe were taking notes. After all, if a bigwig of a global moral leader such as the ANC (yes, dear reader, following on exemplars of rectitude such as Albert Luthuli, Oliver Tambo, Walter Sisulu and Nelson Mandela many thought the ANC was a moral leader — wouldn’t you?) could attack journalists so wantonly then of course they could also go for it.

Malema has got worse since those days. As leader of the EFF he has made it a habit to call conferences where he attacks and insults journalists and spreads lies about them. Recently he said that some journalists "have grouped themselves into a mob that will attack you if you say anything about Ramaphosa". Evidence? Zero.

The US president called journalists ‘sick people’ and questioned their patriotism

Well, Malema’s dirty habits have caught on globally. This past week, after the Democrats’ successes in the midterm elections and as the plethora of investigations against him loomed larger, Trump turned on the media. Again. For a man who couldn’t get up the courage to brave a bit of rain to commemorate the fallen of World War 1 in France this past weekend, Trump is very brave in attacking the press.

Last week, just a day after he attacked a CNN journalist at a White House press conference and then revoked his press pass, Trump launched personal attacks against a trio of prominent black women journalists. He accused one of asking "a lot of stupid questions". He demanded that another one "sit down" at a news conference and followed up later by calling her a "loser". He lambasted a third for asking, in his view, a "racist question".

It’s not new. Last week he called journalists "enemies of the people". In August he called them "sick people", accused the news media of "trying to take away our history and our heritage" and questioned their patriotism.

Trump and Malema are not the only ones who are shooting the messenger. In the Philippines it was announced this week that the department of justice said it had grounds to charge the vibrant start-up media company Rappler and its founder, Maria Ressa, for tax evasion. The claim is ridiculous, but the country’s Trump-esque ruler, Rodrigo Duterte, has in the past threatened to block the renewal of a licence for the country’s largest broadcast network, called reporters who ask him tough questions "spies" and warned that "just because you’re a journalist you are not exempted from assassination".

It’s happening across the globe, from Russia to Cameroon. Last week veteran SA journalist and media activist Angela Quintal was detained in Tanzania. Where does it end? Trump’s friend, the Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman, has done nothing after his spies kidnapped journalist Jamal Khashoggi, tortured him, killed him and dissolved his body in acid and then lied about it.