By Alex Perry, Global Spin blog @ Time Magazine, March 1, 2012

The African National Congress’ expulsion of its enfant terrible, Julius Malema, answers one question: Yes, the party of Nelson Mandela, the party which overthrew apartheid, still finds racism and hate speech intolerable. But it also poses another: Who now proposes to lead South Africa’s millions of poor, young and unemployed? 

The ANC made its surprise move late Wednesday in response to Malema’s appeal against its decision last year to suspend him for five years for bringing the party into disrepute after calling for the overthrow of the government in neighboring Botswana. By appealing, and not apologizing, the leader of the ANC’s Youth League had proven himself to be a “repeat offender,” the ANC’s disciplinary committee found, and aggravated his offense by threatening that “the disciplinary proceedings will come to an end, but the real battle will start after that when the ANC has to persuade the youth.” [....]

As someone who purported to speak for the poor and young but who conspicuously enjoyed the high life himself, Malema was never a true champion of South Africa’s marginalized. But his departure only serves to underline how no political figure in South Africa truly speaks for the millions of black South Africans who find themselves living in the same townships, and enduring the same [....]