Earlier this week Julius Malema made headlines for some bad behaviour. Yes I know this is hardly surprising, in fact it is almost expected. And I realise that it really shouldn't be newsworthy either. However, this time Julius actually did land himself in some brown stuff - to the extent that he has been criminally charged for hate speech.

It all started for Julius as he addressed his supporters at the University of Johannesburg earlier this week. It began as most Julius rallies do: delays, song, rythmic dancing, chanting and noisy crowds. Upon the young rock star's arrival, he led the crowd into song with the popular crowd pleasers Umshini Wami (better known to us as "Bring me my Machine Gun") and the very catchy Kill the Boer (translated as "Kill the Farmer"). Now even Julius, who admittedly majored in Fail, should know that these songs inciting hatred and murder are not acceptable in a free and democratic society. Ok, perhaps that is expecting a bit much. But one would expect that the ANC spokesperson - Jackson Mthembu - should understand that songs seething with hate speech are just not on. That expectation, however, evaporates like the steam off a fresh cowpile on a cold winter's morning when said spokesperson opens his mouth. Unfortunately, as with the cowpile, the stench of his words lingers in the air long after he has deposited his ignorance on the masses.

In this instance, Mthembu actually defended Julius for singing a song that the South African Human Rights Council has flagged as hate speech. Mr Mthembu claims that the "struggle" song was quoted out of context because Julius was born after it was written. Ok, errr... What? Is Julius Malema really that stupid? Can't he understand the words to a song he is singing? Ok, maybe that's a bit unfair, we all know Julius is not the brightest unqualified carpenter to have made it into politics (unless he is the only one?)... That said, the stupid gene has manifested itself not only in Julius Malema, but indeed the ANC spokesman as well. Mr Mthembu, through explaining the meaning of the song showed that he has absolutely no understanding of the meaning of the song. He tried to explain the meaning of the words "Kill the Boer" in some weird long-winded spin-laden explanation filled with words like "coward" and "oppressive forces" and "reminiscent of war". Ok, Julius has dropped the stupid stick and somehow the ANC spokesman managed to trip over it. "Kill the Boer". 3 Words. Starts with KILL and ends with FARMER. No matter which way you try and interpret it, it really can't mean anything else except "Murder the man working the farm"...

But perhaps Mr Mthembu may have one redeeming thing in his favour for failing to understand three little words. He may have been drunk. According to newspaper reports, he was arrested this morning in Cape Town on charges of drunken driving. Some reports have pinned his drunkenness to 3 times over the limit - better known as "quite pissed". Ok, so people get nabbed for drunken driving often, nothing special about that. But that's not the strange part, no... The really really bizarre bit is that Mthembu defended Malema over a telephone interview - one hour after being arrested. So, given the rate the body gets rid of alcohol, he was either still "quite pissed" or had a moer of a hangover. Some people phone or text ex girlfriends or wives when they're drunk. Mr Mthembu defends Julius Malema. Wow.