ANC Youth League president Julius Malema complained in the Eastern Cape that he was being persecuted by the ANC for telling the truth, according to a report on Thursday.
“I don’t know if I will go before a disciplinary committee (DC) or not, but it is a fact – these days you are taken to a DC for telling the truth. It is a fact,” he said, to laughter from his audience.
He was delivering an OR Tambo lecture at Walter Sisulu University in Mthatha.
Malema said he should be treated like Nelson Mandela and other renowned party leaders when they challenged the elites of their day, the Dispatch Online reported.
Malema said when Mandela left the country to undergo military training without an African National Congress mandate, he had not been subjected to a disciplinary hearing.
The league leader - who is facing an ANC disciplinary committee on charges of bringing the party into disrepute - said part of the problem was that no one represented the ANCYL among the top six leaders of the party.
Malema said that from the ANCYL’s formation in 1944 until 2007, there had always been a person from the ranks of the ANCYL in the ruling party’s top six.
“This is the first time we do not have someone directly from the ranks of ANCYL,” he said.
He said it was the job of the youth to introduce radical ideas.
Malema acknowledged the contributions of many ANC leaders, including deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe, but did not mention Jacob Zuma.
He and the youth league’s top five officials are accused of sowing division and bringing the ANC into disrepute.
This relates mainly to their statement about helping to effect regime change in Botswana.
The ANC leadership ignored an apology and pressed ahead with disciplinary action against Malema, his deputy Ronald Lamola, spokesman Floyd Shivambu, secretary-general Sindiso Magaqa, his deputy Kenetswe Masonogi and treasurer-general Pule Mabe. - Sapa