Malema to face courts alone

Former African National Congress Youth League president Julius Malema. File photo: Bongiwe Mchunu

Former African National Congress Youth League president Julius Malema. File photo: Bongiwe Mchunu

Published Jan 29, 2013

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Johannesburg - Julius Malema faces a lonely walk to court when he next appears on charges of racketeering and money laundering, if a resolution taken by the ANC Youth League to bar its members from “mobilising” in support of “accused persons” holds.

The axed youth league president’s previous court appearances, among them his hate-speech case over the Dubul’ iBhunu (Shoot the Boer) song – and even his ANC disciplinary hearings – were attended by hundreds of vocal supporters.

But the youth league announced on Monday, following a two-day meeting of its national executive committee in Irene, near Pretoria, that it believed the courts should “continue unhindered to perform their function of bringing to book those in conflict with the laws of the Republic”.

“We have therefore resolved and hereby instruct the structures of the ANC Youth League to desist from the unbecoming practice of mobilising and organising young people under the banner of the ANC Youth League for court appearances and similar activities of accused persons,” the league said in a statement.

In another sign that Malema’s hold on the league has been broken, it also said its treasurer-general, Pule Mabe, who was suspended after a vote of no confidence in him last year amid whispers that he was angling to replace Malema as youth league president, would be reinstated.

The league also declared on Monday that it accepted it had failed in its bid to have Malema’s expulsion reviewed by the ANC’s national conference in December, “thus bringing the matter to finality”.

Having lost in its attempt to have Kgalema Motlanthe replace Jacob Zuma as ANC president at the Mangaung conference, the league has been putting on a more obedient face, repeating on Monday that it would “subject itself to the guidance of the ANC”.

Political Bureau

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