Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of Nelson Mandela's walk to freedom. As expected, various politicians crawled out of the woodwork to celebrate this event and to offer some pearls of wisdom... Some shared their memories of that day while others reminisced privately.

And then there was Julius Malema. Julius took the 20th anniversary of Mandela's release and decided by himself that the person that made it happen didn't really have anything to do with it. Julius Malema is known for putting his foot in his mouth, but this is probably the first time I've seen him put his other foot in his ass - although there are those that reckon Julius' mouth and ass are the same thing.

Now we all know Julius didn't do particularly well at school. He failed two grades, attained his highest mark in 'English as a second language' on standard grade (basically you just need to attend the class and answer the teacher in broken English to pass) and even failed woodwork. Standard grade woodwork at that. The dumbest kid in my school managed to pass woodwork. So clearly a more complex subject like history was too much for Julius to handle at school, and this shows when he opens his trap on historical events. Julius - who was almost 9 years old when Mandela was released 20 years ago - was quoted as saying:

De Klerk never released Mandela - De Klerk must never be celebrated. De Klerk is a product of apartheid. De Klerk sponsored black-on-black violence. De Klerk sponsored the IFP to kill our people in KwaZulu-Natal.

Obviously everything he managed to string together in that short quote is extremely inaccurate and just pretty screwed up. But the really scary bit is how Julius was cheered during his inaccurate musing. The thousands of people gathered were only too happy to participate in Julius' very quick rewrite of history.

It is quite strange how people with mediocre intelligence can rise to leadership positions in the ANC and its affiliated organisations. In fact, it almost appears as if it is a requirement. Julius Malema seems to be as thick as hardened gelatine slabs, yet he is somehow beaten to the stupid bucket by the big chief himself. Where Julius somehow managed to pass high school at the tender age of 21, his big boss and role model Jacob Zuma had to drop out in grade 8. There are those that maintain that a leader is "street smart", that he has special characteristics like patience and charisma and humility. But that's nonsense. A leader in this modern information age must at least have some intelligence and the ability to know the difference between a horse and an ass.

Yesterday was supposed to be a celebration - not only of one of the world's greatest icons, but indeed of one of Africa's few triumphs. Unfortunately stupidity intervened. Again.