Jonathan Shapiro, aka Zapiro, is a national treasure. His cartoons tell stories that writers need thousands of words to replicate. Interviewing John Battersby about what he heard when following EFF Leader Julius Malema around London last week brought a recent Zapiro classic to mind.
Malema enjoyed a warm reception in the UK because of his undeniable wit and, for the Brits, a palatable approach to Black Economic Empowerment. Instead of further enriching cronies, Malema told a packed Chatham House, companies should encourage worker participation through aggressive Employee Share Ownership Programmes.
Nice. Except that by promoting ESOPs to make workers co-owners of businesses, Malema is sure to alienate his trade union friends at AMCU. Also, as co-owners, workers will also be hardest hit if and when the EFF’s core economic strategy of Nationalisation is triggered.
This was a reminder of Zapiro’s cartoon highlighting policy contradictions at the recent Cosatu conference. The trouble with populism is that giving everyone what they want can be rather confusing for the one dispensing the largesse.
