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Dear friends and fellow South Africans,

During the debate on the President's State of the Nation Address last
Monday, Deputy Minister of Police, Fikile Mbalula, praised Mr Julius Malema,
saying that he is a "jewel" and is the only thing that other parties do not
have.

The IFP, for one, is most grateful that we do not have a Malema in our
midst. But we also appreciate the Deputy Minister's recognition of the fact
that we have everything else; experience, leadership ability, integrity,
sound policies, an excellent track record and clear vision for the future.
In any party, one Malema could nullify all of that.

It has been more than a year since Mr Malema announced that the ANC Youth
League does not take its lead from the ANC and will not be led by it. The
elders in the ANC did not take him to task nor rein him in; but have stood
silently by as he proceeded to bad mouth anyone that caught his attention,
from Minister of Education Naledi Pandor, to SACP General Secretary Jeremy
Cronin, cartoonist Zapiro, Nedbank, the Secretary General of the ANC Mr
Gwede Mantashe and former President Thabo Mbeki.

His acrimonious outbursts have not failed to include me, as he has
repeatedly made outrageous comments that would be the shame of any father
and elicit a quick rebuke. When not blaming everyone around him, who
automatically took on the persona of "a racist", he blamed his own
ignorance, missing the irony in his declaration that he is not equipped to
speak on matters that require factual knowledge.

On several occasions the IFP thought he had gone too far. We have considered
legal action. We have written articles and rejoinders in the press. We have
made public statements setting the record straight after any one of his many
misinformed tirades. Indeed, I even wrote to the President seeking his
guidance on how to repair the damage Mr Malema wreaks with his mouth. I
never had the privilege of a response from the President.

In the end - we presume - only the President can bring Mr Malema in line. If
he is to speak as a mouthpiece for the ANC, from whatever structure, surely
the Head of the ANC should back him, or correct him. But last Thursday night
Mr Malema made it clear that even President Zuma is not an untouchable mark
for his verbal target practice.

Several months ago, Mr Malema sounded his clarion call for the
nationalization of our mines. The magnitude of the consequences for our
economy instantly turned this into a contentious issue, with economists and
investors hoping to see the ANC leadership make a decisive statement against
it. During his State of the Nation address, President Zuma noted that
nationalization is not ANC policy, but that a debate could be opened on the
matter.

The President in fact surprised all of us in Parliament when he said that we
must engage Mr Malema and not expect him, as Leader of the ANC, to stop Mr
Malema when he makes these outrageous and acrimonious utterances about
anyone or on any subject.

Suggesting a debate on nationalization was a mistake. It obfuscated the
issue and left investors and potential investors unsure of South Africa's
future direction. In my response to the State of the Nation Address I warned
that Government must make an unequivocal commitment not to nationalize
anything that can survive on its own merit through the economic recession.
Indeed, I believe Government should go further and adopt a policy of
privatizing anything that would be better off relinquished from its
ownership.

Nevertheless, the olive branch that the President extended to Mr Malema in
saying that a debate could be opened on nationalization was quickly slapped
down, as Mr Malema declared that he did not need the President to support
his ideas; he would go to the grassroots to force nationalization upon us.

I cannot help but wonder if Mr Malema is not the Frankenstein's monster of
the ANC. He is an ANC creation, but has perhaps become something they never
intended. He seems programmed with propaganda and cannot move beyond his
programming to embrace truth or reality. I fear there will be many more
bodies in his wake if his "master" fails to restrain him. Indeed, the
creator may be destroyed by his creation. Railing against the media on
Monday, Malema himself declared: "The only way to destroy this organisation
is to destroy this boy."

Those of my generation grew up as young African Nationalists in the ANC and
we were quite enamored with the notion of nationalization. But the lessons
of history and applied study changed our minds, to the extent that, in 1980
when President Mugabe was installed as the first Prime Minister of a
democratic Zimbabwe, President Julius Nyerere warned him not to destroy the
economy of Zimbabwe as he had done in Tanzania.

This is a matter which is bound to do incalculable damage to any possible
prospects of any reasonable investor considering South Africa as a possible
destination for investment. This applies to both foreign and domestic
investors. It boggles my mind that the President does not seem to grasp the
enormous damage that this is bound to do to any prospects of investment in
our country.

Mr Malema must be taken seriously, because he said that they would install
President Zuma even if that costs them life itself. And that happened as he
predicted. He cannot be taken just as an ANC court jester, but a veritable
oracle of the African National Congress. He gives the impression of being
someone who says all the things the ANC wishes to say, but doesn't have the
guts to utter.

The policy of nationalization is outdated and defamed in economic circles,
but still Mr Malema pursues it, perhaps because he fails to grasp its nature
and consequences, or perhaps simply because his programming is from a bygone
era. This latter explanation sheds light on why Mr Malema holds doggedly to
the old propaganda that I or my Party were used by the Apartheid Government
to kill fellow South Africans during the liberation struggle.

This old lie has been refuted by President FW de Klerk, by President Nelson
Mandela, by President Thabo Mbeki and Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe,
and now by President Jacob Zuma in Parliament. But Mr Malema cannot be
re-programmed with the truth. He insists that his accusation is in line with
the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Yet if he read the
TRC reports he would be hard-pressed to support his position.

It is a matter of historical record that the TRC found no evidence to
suggest that I ever ordered, authorized, sanctioned or condoned any human
rights violations. Nor did I ask for any immunity from prosecution as the
President of the ANC, President Mbeki, did on behalf of ANC leaders. These
are the facts of the matter.

But for Mr Malema, it doesn't matter if the facts don't line up. It doesn't
matter if reality differs from his opinion. And it apparently doesn't matter
whether the Leader of the ANC agrees with him or not. His threats that he
will take his ill-advised ideas to the masses in order to override
Government are reminiscent of another ANC tactic; the stirring of disrespect
for authority that ends in ungovernability. Again I shall say it; he is a
dangerous creation.

I regret that President Nelson Mandela's former wife, Ms Winnie
Madikizela-Mandela, was present last week when Mr Malema told Wits students
that I and former President FW de Klerk were responsible for killing
thousands of people. My regret is that Ms Madikizela-Mandela failed to
correct him. Last month, bemoaning the fact that the ANC's internal
leadership struggles would deeply wound Madiba if he knew about them, Ms
Madikizela-Mandela was quoted as insisting that Mr Malema is not the
problem: "He's my product. His rebellious attitude is part of the process of
growing up. And he will make a great leader one day."

President Zuma made similar comments in October last year, acknowledging
that the ANC had made Malema and that he was a leader in the making. The
President said, "He is a young man who is in the process of growing up" and
he defended Malema's controversial statements by saying, "He really thinks
he is an African."

As I told the President in Parliament last week, for the sake of our country
I must offer my admonitions, criticism and insight. Accordingly, I must warn
the ruling party to stop seeing Mr Malema as a wayward child with great
potential. He is a grown man with great power. And he is using that power to
great destruction.

Yours in the service of the nation