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Julius Malema is apparently leaving today for a tour of Venezuela, where he will meet President Hugo Chavez and discuss that country's programme of nationalisation. His trip follows a similar excursion to Zimbabwe, where he met with Robert Mugabe and romanticised his policies, the self same policies that have resulted in the systematic destruction of the Zimbabwean economy. He is due to go to Cuba, at some point in the future. These are rouge nations, either dismissive of or opposed to basic democratic principles; their leaders have scant regard for the well being of their people and their policies reflect this attitude. Why is Malema flirting with them? What message is he trying to send to the world, about our values and principles? More to the point, why is Malema pursuing the world's demagogues and dictators, instead of upholding, promoting and championing the ideals of our own much-vaunted constitution?

The answer to these questions is a simple one: Julius Malema is not a democrat and, if unchecked, he constitutes a serious threat to our democracy. What values he does promote often run contrary to the principles that define our constitution. He seems to be enamored by dictators and facists, unable to properly identify the damage they have caused to the lives of the people over which they govern. And he seems obsessed, first and foremost, with power and its accumulation; whether that be in the form of material wealth, or simply by using the constituency he represents to bully the ANC leadership. These are not the hallmarks of good leadership, quite the opposite, they are characteristics of demagoguery and, as such, they must be countered.

It is quite clear too, that Malema's influence is now too powerful simply to be left to the ANC leadership to regulate; they seem to cower in front of him, unwilling to check his wayward behaviour and unable to draw on their own good leadership to set a precedent or example. The President of the ANC himself has been left to flounder in a political vacuum of his own making. Over the past few months Malema has filled that space. Indeed, he now dominates it. It is his words that define public debate, his actions that define the ANC's agenda and his attitude that has reduced the ANC's leadership to spectators. This is all to the determent of our democracy.

So, what to do? First, Julius Malema's words and deeds must be recognised for what they are: a clear and present danger. Second, it must be recognised that everything Julius Malema represents is not set in stone; he represents merely one option South Africans can chose either to endorse or reject - the real power to counter Julius Malema lies in the hands of South Africa's citizens.

In this regard people have a duty to speak out and oppose his undemocratic behaviour, on the one hand, and to support those institutions that stand in opposition to him, on the other.

Too long South Africa has humoured and accommodated Julius Malema. He might be a political child, unable ever to mature into an upstanding statesman and stuck forever in political adolescence; but that is not something the South African people have to accept. If what we expect from a ruling party is leadership defined by wisdom, maturity, vision and purpose, then we need to look elsewhere; for all Julius Malema has to offer is charisma; and it is a charisma increasingly fueled by nothing more than populism and propaganda. That he should seek out and endorse other demagogues so enthusiastically only confirms this fact.