INLSA

ANCYL president Julius Malema. Picture: Chris Collingridge

MOSHOESHOE MONARE

JULIUS Malema thought the ANC was weak and he could do whatever he “wants to do”, but he was “immature”, President Jacob Zuma said yesterday.

He also warned senior ANC leaders who “cross the line” by defending Malema.

The embattled Malema is awaiting the outcome of arguments at the ANC disciplinary committee over mitigation of sentence expected to start today. But his suspension from the party is highly likely to be confirmed.

In a 45-minute interview with The Star yesterday, Zuma said the party had given Malema a second chance after he was found guilty of undermining the ANC leader in 2010.

“I don’t think he was in a position to understand how the ANC was acting, I think his understanding was that this organisation is weak, you can do whatever you want to do. I think that’s why the ANC now can no longer do what it did at the beginning because it needs to act, and act resolutely,” he said, referring to the party’s failure to enforce its sanctions, such as taking Malema for anger management lessons.

On accusations that he defended Malema three years ago when he was bullying his opponents and declared his willingness to kill for the president, Zuma said he had qualified his support for the radical youth leader. “I remember, I was in Limpopo, when I said that in Malema there is a leader here, he needs to be properly nurtured…”

Zuma added that people should never “try to equate the misbehaviour of the youth league today to very reasonable” actions by past league leaders such as Nelson Mandela. There was no youth league meetings… which stood up there and criticised and sang songs about the leadership of the ANC…

“It tells you of political immaturity, and misunderstanding of the history of the ANC.”

Malema could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Zuma berated ANC leaders who defended Malema’s ill-discipline, saying they “are serving other interests”.

“It is not from the branches, it is from the leadership that that line has been crossed. That’s where the problems is, which undermines the capacity of the ANC to deal with the issues of discipline.”

Asked about criticism by his colleague, ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa, of the administration’s intervention in Limpopo and his indirect support for Malema, Zuma – who did not mention Phosa by name – said: “It does not mean because you are a leader you are then beyond this kind of thing. It is not the first time in the ANC that people from the leadership begin to act against the principles of the ANC.

“So there’s nothing strange about it… once leaders begin to behave in a certain way, the ANC will certainly act”, he stated, citing the dismissals of some of its senior leaders in the 1970s.

He admitted “tenders have made a big damage… to the ANC cadres”.

“That is why we are looking at it, should we continue with this system of tenders or should we change it… it has indeed dented the images of many of our cadres, there is no doubt about it.”