A visit to Namibia by former ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema has been cancelled, reportedly because high-level politicians in Namibia’s ruling Swapo feared that hosting him would sour their relations with the ANC.
Malema was to speak at the Chris Hawala Memorial Lecture in Windhoek on July 5, the topic of which was “Towards the African Youth Manifesto: Economic Freedom in Our Lifetime”. Hawala was a youth activist in Namibia who died in a car accident in 2008. This was to be the inaugural memorial lecture.
The Namibian reported yesterday that high-level Swapo leaders had pulled the plug on Malema’s visit for fear that it might affect relations between them and the ANC. The Namibian quotes well-placed sources as saying that a meeting was held in which it was clearly spelled out that the ruling party did not sanction the visit.
However, a press release issued by the lecture’s organising committee said the visit had been cancelled as they could not guarantee Malema’s safety while in Namibia.
Asked to comment on the cancellation, ANCYL spokeswoman Magdalene Moonsamy promised to call back, but had not by the time of going to press.
Pretoria News Weekend