Blindsided by Pied Piper bureaucrats: Cult of personality is ruling politics
Emotions run high when high-profile politicians jump ship.
Julius Malema’s EFF has been the victim a lot lately, but last week’s defection almost had him in tears. In fact, he likened the defection to his mother dying.
And that’s because Floyd Shivambu wasn’t only his deputy president, he was also the party’s co-founder and Malema’s confidante.
His surprise defection to Jacob Zuma’s new MK Party would’ve felt like a gut punch, especially after several other EFF MPs recently jumped ship.
While that is obviously worrying for Malema, it is Shivambu’s shift of allegiance that caused the most concern, as he was reportedly seen as one of the more level-headed executives in the party.
The whole thing got me thinking about the cult of personality that now seems to permeate politics across the world.
People don’t seem to vote on the issues anymore.
They now vote for the candidate they like the most, and it’s mostly because that candidate is funny and says all the things they agree with.
It’s very easy to fall for charismatic speakers who say things in a funny way.
They are more entertainers than politicians, because they make their audience laugh and say unlikely things.
Donald Trump is a good example of this and other politicians across the world have taken a page from his playbook.
But it’s dangerous, because most of the time these people don’t know what they’re talking about and their incompetence becomes apparent once they are in the job.
This is not the case with Floyd Shivambu, who by all accounts was the intellectual glue that held the executive of the EFF together and kept the party pointed in the general direction of its manifesto.
It could very well be the reason why Malema is so shaken by his defection, especially since it is to the party that has kicked the EFF out of second place, to become the country’s official opposition.
It must also hurt that Zuma was probably the one who lured him, considering Malema’s periodical support of Zuma.
Remember when he was the ANC’s youth league leader and he pronounced that he would kill for Zuma?
Followed by the EFF’s relentless ridiculing of Zuma in Parliament, followed by the infamous tea party, when Malema visited him at Nkandla to make nice.
It must all be very confusing for a young electorate that is looking up to its leader.
One moment they are cheering the obscenities being flung at Zuma and the next moment they are expected to applaud their leader indulging in a very friendly, colonial tradition with the man.
It’s these paradoxical performances elevating the politician above their values that is a major feature of the personality cult.
It doesn’t really matter what the person openly does, they will be allowed to spin it in any way they want and their supporters will simply nod in agreement.
Donald Trump has said that he could shoot someone dead in the middle of Times Square and nothing would happen to him.
He has talked about wanting to be a dictator and is determined to take away women’s reproductive rights should he become president. And yet he continues to enjoy inexplicably large support.
This is the cult of personality that has plagued politics throughout the ages.
It is as if these people are able to hypnotise the masses with their particular brand of charisma.
The strangest of all is that most of the time, they are not speaking any sense, yet their very voice can cast a spell of obedience over their audience.
They usually rant and rave against the system, of which they are wanting to be a part.
But the one thing that’s true for all of them, is that they express the frustrations of their supporters.
That is the formula that keeps them noticed.
They won’t educate people about the right and wrong of a thing, but will instead insert themselves and eventually take over the narrative.
It is an effective form of mass communication that they use to their own nefarious benefit. Which brings me to Floyd Shivambu, the EFF and the MKP.
He was very clearly very popular among EFF supporters, but was it for his level political head and ability to keep policy promises, or was it simply because he knew how to say the right thing in a way that resonated with people?
Because if it is the latter, then all his personality-cult supporters will follow him wherever he goes.
In the MKP, he will have to fight for the limelight that is hogged by Zuma, who is the master of attracting support with vacuous, but dangerous rhetoric.
But the shifting sands of our political landscape can easily morph into quicksand as morals are flexible and the electorate easily manipulated.
dailyvoice@inl.co.za