And in a final slap at the governing African National Congress (from which he was recently expelled): "They only come to you when it's time for elections. Once you put that cross, they disappear."
Malema preaches hatred of the rich and hints at social revolution. The fact he is mysteriously rich at the age of 31, although his only jobs were with the ANC Youth League, doesn't bother his millions of admirers. They just want to see redistribution of the country's wealth in their favour and they think Malema is their best bet.
They are probably wrong. Malema is ruthless and cunning enough to have a chance at winning power towards the end of this decade, when the ANC's political near-monopoly finally collapses. But he is not skilled enough, and perhaps not even clever enough, to push through that sort of redistribution without destroying South Africa's industrial economy in the process. Nevertheless, many of the poor feel they have nowhere else to turn.
It is now 18 years since the fall of apartheid, and a substantial class of prosperous middle-class blacks has emerged (together with a small group of very rich people with close links to the ANC). However, the poor majority remain desperately poor and no longer trust the ANC to bring positive change in their lives. They are starting to defect politically and the main battle is being fought on the territory of the trade unions.
The Lonmin strike is actually a turf war. The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (ACMU), a new, radical union, has been stealing the members of the National Union of Mineworkers, including 3000 to 4000 of the 26,000 men working in Lonmin's platinum mine. ACMU promised to triple the workers' wages and the violence began when it tried to stop NUM members from going to work.
Ten people were killed in clashes between the two unions in mid-August, including two police who were hacked to death with pangas (machetes). So the police were understandably nervous last week when they faced an angry mob of about 3000 workers armed with pangas, spears and clubs.
Unleashing a torrent of automatic fire that killed 34 strikers and wounded 78 was an act of gross indiscipline, but frightened men, even if they have far better weapons, will not always respond in a disciplined way when they are under attack. The reflex, unfortunately, is to hold the trigger down and spray the threat with bullets.
Nobody wanted this tragedy and it is unlikely to happen again in the same way. Zuma will probably be re-elected as ANC leader in December and go on to a second term as President. There will be a commission of inquiry, and judges will reach conclusions and make recommendations.
But the main political beneficiaries are the forces trying to loosen the grip of the ANC's old guard on the unions and the country.
It has been a very auspicious occasion for Malema, who is trying to position himself as the only real alternative to Zuma and the gang. Some time in the future, the Lonmin massacre may be seen as a turning point in South Africa's history. Or not, because history does not run on rails.
Gwynne Dyer is a London-based independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries
