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The illusion of Julius Malema’s solidarity with the poor was shattered in less than 24 hours after the Youth League’s “economic freedom” march to the Union Buildings.

Once the photo ops and the interviews were out of the way, Malema climbed aboard a jet and winged his way to Mauritius for a R10 million wedding bash with his tenderpreneur friends. While Malema was quaffing expensive champagne in paradise, reports of his impending arrest for corruption were being printed on the front pages of newspapers.

There are two Julius Malemas. There is the fake Malema who portrays himself as an economic freedom fighter, a man of the people. And there is the real Malema who will do anything in pursuit of his own wealth and power. For him, the poor are just pawns to help him further enrich himself and his cronies.

Many people in South Africa are poor because apartheid reserved the best opportunities for some while excluding others. We live with this legacy today. But this legacy persists because there is a new political elite that continues to reserve the best opportunities for itself while excluding everyone else.

This is the closed, crony society for comrades only that Julius Malema exemplifies. It is the reason why economic freedom has not followed political freedom.

If we want to achieve economic freedom in our lifetime, we need to vote out those who rob the poor of opportunities while pretending to be their champions. We need an open, opportunity society for all with sustainable policies that increase economic growth and create jobs.

That is the South Africa the DA Youth is committed to building.