The ANC says the charges brought against its youth league leader Julius Malema and his lieutenant Floyd Shivambu are not up for debate.
ANC spokesman Brian Sokutu said the party would proceed with disciplinary action against the youth leaders despite a league call for urgent discussions on the matter with ANC leaders.
Malema and youth league spokesman Shivambu were charged on Friday with bringing the ANC into disrepute and sowing divisions in the party over statements advocating regime change in Botswana, among others.
It will be up to the ANC’s disciplinary committee, headed by Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Derek Hanekom and including Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu, to decide the fate of the two, who will appear at separate hearings next Tuesday and Wednesday.
Sokutu said the ANC had not pronounced on whether it would meet the league before the hearings.
After a special national executive committee meeting on Sunday, the league said it would request an urgent meeting with party leaders.
League NEC member Magdalene Moonsamy said it wanted to understand the “motive” behind the charges, which it believed could be dealt with through “political engagement” rather than disciplinary action.
Sokutu dismissed this, saying the disciplinary processes would not be halted.
But Moonsamy said while the league “always respected” the process of the ANC, it would still push for a meeting. - Political Bureau