Julius Malema's trial

"If you work underground and you earn cheap and you still vote for the ANC, be ashamed of yourself," Julius Malema told South Africa's miners in a searing attack on the ruling African National Congress.

Malema was addressing thousands of his supporters in Rustenburg on the second anniversary of the founding of his party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), on July 26.

"If you are a domestic worker and you vote for the ANC, be ashamed of yourself," he thundered.

Malema's continuing popularity appears to have taken some observers by surprise. Desai Ashwin of the University of Johannesburg said nobody expected the EFF to be a success when it was founded two years ago.

"Despite all the doomsayers, the EFF has grown as a political party," he said.

At the 2014 elections, the EFF garnered 25 seats in parliament. "This is unusual for South Africa because those formations that have tried to break away from the ANC have often come to nothing," Ashwin said.

Once a protege of South African president Jacob Zuma and leader of ANC's youth league, Malema was expelled from the ruling ANC in 2012 for hate speech and for "sowing divisions" within the party.

Ashwin said the EFF was now a loud voice that challenges the ANC at every opportunity.

Malema's trial at Polokwane High Court was adjourned on Monday (03.08.2015) until the following day. The charges he faces include racketeering, money laundering, corruption and fraud.

He is suspected of involvement in the awarding of a tender worth $4.1 million (R52 million, 3.7 million Euros) to the company On Point Engineering when he was ANC youth league leader in 2009. Malema's family allegedly had interests in On Point.

Malema's hearing was due to take place in 2013 but was postponed several times. It was halted on Monday after one of his four co-accused was absent after being hospitalized last week.

Malema's lawyers are pushing for a separate trial for their client.

Malema insists the charges are simply "persecution" by his former allies in the ANC.

Strikes chord with younger voters

Corruption is the chief allegation which Malema levels against his former party the ANC and President Zuma.

Monday's adjourned hearing was not the first time that Malema, the anti-corruption campaigner, has faced corruption allegations himself.

He has been charged with fraud and failing to pay taxes. But Ashwin says that compared to the colossal corruption allegations directed at President Zuma and the ANC, "Malema seems a very minor figure in what he might or might not be got up to."

Zuma faces allegations that he spent millions of dollars in public money upgrading his Nkandla rural residence.

Ashwin believes that Malema's criticism of the ANC strikes a chord with many young people in South Africa.

Why hold up tax money if you love the people?

South African political scientist Ralph Mathekga doubts the EFF's ability to bring about change. Malema "got less than 7 percent at the last elections." There are other oppostion parties which have secured a similar level of support, he said.

Nonetheless the EFF "are offering a very different type of oppostion - very vocal and non-compromising - and are bringing what you can call 'street politics' into parliament," Mathekga said.

Malema, the son of a domestic worker from the province of Limpopo, has called for the nationalization of South Africa's mining industry and the redistribution of white-owned farmland. Mathekga believes such demands lack credibility. "It 's just a slogan," he said. "They say they care for the poor, but drive around in BMWs, Mercedes or Range Rovers."

There is also the scandal surrounding Malema's tax affairs. "If you really love the people, why are you holding tax money up - that tax money can be used to fund policies that benefit the poor?" Mathekga asked.

Does Malema have the potential to lead South Africa one day? Ashwin is skeptical but says that since the arrival of EFF in parliament "South African politics have become more interesting."