Book of the Week: 'Malema: Money. Power. Patronage' by Micah Reddy and Pauli van Wyk

CapeTalk and 702's Mandy Wiener chats to author and investigative journalist, Pauli van Wyk.

Listen below:

"What we see from following him since 2005... it's Malema first, always, and then politics and South Africa later."

- Pauli van Wyk, Author and Investigative Journalist

A new investigative book titled 'Malema: Money, Power, Patronage' delves into the financial dealings behind one of South Africa's most polarising political figures, Julius Malema. 

Written by journalists Micah Reddy and Pauli van Wyk, the book is the product of six years of reporting and is explicit in its focus: not on Malema’s politics, but on how he makes his money – and who helps him do it.

"Malema has criticised our reporting for many years, saying that we are trying to police Black wealth, or we are trying to say that he is not allowed to have Gucci, or have a nice house, or have a helicopter, or whatever nice things he has. I want to make clear that that is not the focus of the book. The focus is how did you get your millions? And that is where the problem comes in... not in a legal way."

- Pauli van Wyk, Author and Investigative Journalist

"We do not say that Malema does not sometimes do good things for South Africans, and sometimes spends money on an RDP house or on spending money for people who need it. But that money… it is the question of how he got that money. How did he get the money that he spent on the wheelchairs? Who is funding that? And if there's an action that goes against his private interest, what does he do then? And that's some of the situations we unpack in the book."

- Pauli van Wyk, Author and Investigative Journalist

The authors trace Malema’s financial networks through key scandals, including the VBS Mutual Bank collapse, the On-Point Engineering tender scandal, and influence-peddling within the City of Johannesburg. 

They argue that Malema has consistently used political power to benefit himself and his close associates, all while avoiding legal consequences. 

Van Wyk says despite years of damning evidence and media exposés, Malema has not been convicted of corruption. 

She explains that the book examines how weak or withdrawn prosecutions, particularly by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), have enabled his political survival. 

It also questions, Van Wyk adds, whether Malema can sustain his influence without the political power that has helped secure his growing wealth – reportedly now exceeding R40 million in property assets alone.

Scroll up to listen to the full conversation.