Cape Town - Expelled former ANC Youth League president Julius Malema’s chances of having his expulsion overturned by the ANC’s national conference hang by a thread.
But his diehard supporters within the league and the ANC are confident they will succeed in getting the matter on the agenda, despite indications that his support - not only within the mother body, but also its youth wing - has hit an all-time low.
The ANC’s 53rd national conference kicks off in Mangaung on Sunday. Aside from electing a new leadership and thrashing out policy proposals, Malema’s supporters want to raise the disciplinary action that led to his expulsion and the suspension of fellow executive members Sindiso Magaqa and Floyd Shivambu.
Following the ANC’s national disciplinary appeals committee upholding the judgments against the threesome, and an unsuccessful bid to get the ANC’s national executive committee to review them, Malema’s allies are pinning their hopes on a last-ditch bid to push to have the matter raised from the floor at the conference, to get the sanctions overturned.
The national conference is the ANC’s highest decision-making body. However, with only days to go before it gets under way, there’s uncertainty among Malema’s former colleagues and others close to him about whether such a bid will be successful.
It seems there’s little appetite among those pushing for a change in the ANC’s top leadership for Malema’s return to the ANC fold.
Political Bureau