ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema has painted himself as the victim of a conspiracy by senior ANC leaders, possibly in an attempt to forestall disciplinary action against him.
Malema told the more than 5 300 youth league delegates attending on Sunday’s closing session of the league’s four-day congress in Midrand that some ANC members “use the discipline of the ANC to resolve the contest of the kids”.
Malema said, shouting, that these ANC leaders had discussed sending him into “exile” to Cuba or China for two years as a possible punishment for his missteps.
“You are a group of factionalists. You are self-appointed factionalists who run around to divide the ANC in the name of defending President (Jacob) Zuma,” he thundered.
Without naming them, Malema attacked ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, who was the official responsible for initiating last year’s charges against him, and Cosatu general-secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, who had been critical of the league and who had narrowly escaped action for naming ministers who he alleged were corrupt.
Malema also lashed out at Deputy Science and Technology Minister Derek Hanekom, who had said on Saturday that he could not support the league’s policy on land expropriation without compensation, implying that Hanekom should be disciplined for saying this.
In contrast, he thanked ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa, who represented him in last year’s disciplinary hearing, and former youth league national executive committee member Clifford Motsepe, who stood by his side.
Malema said the league wanted “proper leadership” and not “factionalists”.
“We want proper leadership; we want to be taught proper politics, not destroying the future of young people. You subscribe to a policy of ‘kill them young, destroy their future’,” he said.
He called for the tolerance of different views in the ANC, and for the opening up of the party’s succession debate, so leaders could talk about it at any time, instead of waiting for the green light from the party.
Last year Malema was given a suspended sentence by the party’s disciplinary committee for sowing division in the ANC after he compared the leadership of President Jacob Zuma unfavourably to that of his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki.
This means he could be suspended from the party if found guilty again on the same charge.
It is not clear whether there have been any attempts to lay fresh charges against him after he told a youth league gathering in Limpopo earlier this month that Mbeki had been the best leader the ANC had ever had.
Mantashe and Hanekom refused to comment on the matter while the league’s congress was in session.
But Malema has been careful not to appear to be threatening Zuma after his recent remark about Mbeki. He told journalists after his re-election he would have a “fresh life”, implying that he wanted to start with a clean slate.
Malema, in the same speech on Sunday, lashed out at ANC leaders in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga, who he alleged had wanted to bribe youth league members to vote for Gauteng chairman Lebogang Maile.
Malema threatened that the league would remove the ANC leadership in Mpumalanga and replace it with “a proper leadership who will not instruct them on how to walk, talk and be led”.
There were reported attempts by ANC leaders in this province, led by David Mabuza, to sway league members to vote for Maile.
Malema said the Mpumalanga league members had defied the ANC’s provincial leadership and threatened to name those leaders in ANC meetings.
Malema said KwaZulu-Natal members “were called and each promised R2 000 if they vote differently” to the province’s resolution that Malema should be leader, but they had refused.
Some KwaZulu-Natal league members switched their support to Maile after Malema’s recent remark about Mbeki, which appeared to be an attack on Zuma, who has strong support in the province.
Some league delegates from KwaZulu-Natal, however, denied that there had been attempts to bribe them. Those who made the claims did not want to name the people they accused of bribery.
Malema said some in the ANC wanted the league to be a “desk”, but said the youth league “keeps fires burning in the ANC and ensures that the ANC does not lose its fighting spirit, because as soon as they lose their fighting spirit, the people lose hope”.
Malema also declared that there was a war “on policy shift” and that the league would continue to push for the nationalisation of mines and the expropriation of land.
At the congress the league resolved to fill ANC branches by at least 50 percent with its members.
Yesterday’s closing session was addressed by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and the ANC’s Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who both gave tips to the newly elected youth league leadership on how to conduct itself. – Political Bureau