Johannesburg - Former African National Congress Youth League president Julius Malema has claimed that the ANC used him for its own purposes before throwing him away, it was reported on Thursday.
The eNews channel reported that Malema told a Friends of the Youth League gathering in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape that he had been mistreated by the ANC's leadership.
“Those of us who have remained loyal... and those of us who have entered treacherous places (by) defending the African National Congress... today we are not wanted,” he said.
“We are used like toilet paper that is flushed in the toilet. We are used like condoms - those who use condoms will know how condoms work, they use them and they throw them (away) somewhere else.”
Meanwhile, the ANC Youth League has distanced itself from the newly formed Friends of the Youth League. The group was created to provide a platform for Malema after his expulsion from the ANC.
The Youth League’s provincial spokesperson Nathi Nomatiti told the City Press newspaper on Wednesday that the Eastern Cape provincial executive committee distanced itself from the group because it knew nothing about it.
Malema was originally suspended for five years for sowing division in the ANC and for bringing the party into disrepute. He was found to have done so by unfavourably comparing the leadership style of President Jacob Zuma to that of former president Thabo Mbeki, and for remarks on bringing about regime change in Botswana.
He unsuccessfully appealed, but was granted leave to present evidence in mitigation to the ANC’s national disciplinary committee.
However, on February 29 it announced that the sanction against him was being increased to expulsion.
He again appealed and it was this appeal that the ANC's national disciplinary committee of appeal dismissed on April 24. - Sapa