Get ready to take over, the ANC Youth League told Kgalema Motlanthe in Polokwane on Sunday.
“Get ready, comrade Kgalema, get ready,” delegates shouted in unison as the league whipped up support around the country for its president Julius Malema and other league officials facing an ANC disciplinary hearing tomorrow.
Motlanthe is deputy president of both the country and the ANC to President Jacob Zuma.
“Away with two heads and a shower!” shouted a delegate, in an apparent reference to Zuma.
ANCYL secretary-general Sindiso Magaqa was among those who sang Motlanthe’s praises at the University of Limpopo’s Turfloop campus near Polokwane.
“Long live comrade Motlanthe, long live,” Magaqa said while lauding other ANC leaders but omitting Zuma’s name.
The meeting was one of several ANCYL meetings convened specifically to map a way forward as the league prepares to defend Malema.
League members across the country will be bused to the ANC headquarters, Luthuli House, in central Joburg, to demonstrate against the disciplinary hearings scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.
“The NEC (national executive committee) and the PEC (provincial executive committee) have decided to stand by our leadership, and we want to brief our structures about it,” said ANCYL Gauteng provincial secretary Ayanda Kasa.
“We want our members to know that this is a peaceful march and is not against the ANC.”
Over 350 representatives from branches around Gauteng gathered at a league meeting in Braamfontein yesterday to discuss the charges being levelled at Malema and spokesman Floyd Shivambu.
Members danced and sang songs in support of the two.
“Julius Malema… Floyd Shivambu… There is no one like you… Juju is coming back,” members sang and stamped their feet in unison.
Similar meetings were held in various provinces.
“We say disciplinary charges can never be used to settle political issues,” ANCYL NEC member Lerato Mofokeng told a meeting at the FET Motheo College campus in the Free State.
She explained how the ANCYL got to their viewpoint on Botswana and reiterated that “Botswana was a security threat” in Africa for “collaborating with imperialists”.
“The interest of the US was not our interests,” Mofokeng said, referring to a US Air Force base in Botswana.
Mofokeng said the ANCYL called for a freer and more democratic society in Botswana and not regime change.
She indicated that the ANC youth movement’s apology in this regard was more “for the media” and that the movement stood by its statement.
Magaqa said the general council venue meeting at Turfloop reminded him of the historic national conference of the ANC in 2007 when Zuma was elected ANC president, defeating Thabo Mbeki.
“But the lesson I have learnt is that you should not elect leaders out of anger, because the result will be anger,” said Magaqa.
He said Motlanthe had taught the ANCYL about true leadership.
“Maybe we must elect cadres who are tried and tested,” he said.
“You lead people by ideas, not by moving in blue lights,” said Magaqa.
The council was attended by several provincial ANC leaders, including Premier Cassel Mathale. But ANC provincial secretary Joe Maswanganyi, who the league wants out, was nowhere to be seen.
“Malema has produced many Malemas; removing Malema is useless,” said Magaqa. - The Star