By Gaye Davis
The ANC is on the horns of a dilemma - and its name is Julius Malema. Just how to deal with the firebrand ANC Youth League (ANCYL) leader is now expected to occupy the ANC's National Executive Committee when it meets this weekend.
With his militant style and wild rhetoric, Malema is understood to be causing concern about what he is costing the ANC in the run-up to next year's national and provincial elections.
Malema has repeatedly been asked to hold his tongue - but the muzzle is soon off again with another provocative pronouncement.
Last week, after a period of relative restraint, Malema accused the Northern Cape premier of being "bought" by business while she sat near him on the same podium.
And more recently, he disparaged Congress of the People (COPE) co-leader and former Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa as a security guard and claimed he was delinquent over child-support payments.
But Malema's comments provide COPE with a ready stick with which to beat the ANC as it mobilises to set itself up as a party true to the values and principles which it says the mother ship has abandoned.
COPE strategists are aware that Malema's comments sit uneasily with older, more conservative ANC supporters who are sickened by his war-talk and the disrespect he shows for his elders. And they are aware that his antics do not endear himself to many young South Africans who will vote for the first time in next year's polls. Malema's infamous comments in June that the youth were "ready to kill" for ANC president Jacob Zuma have come back to haunt him.
"All we would like is for Malema to go on air as much as possible," a COPE source said. "He serves us well."
Malema's frequent utterances at one point gave the impression that the tail was wagging the dog - that the youth league, the ANC's training wing for cadres, was in charge and setting the tone for the party.
But the ANC's dilemma is that its president, Zuma, would arguably not be where he is today were it not for the efforts of the youth league in the run-up to its Polokwane conference, where former party leader Thabo Mbeki was toppled.
Zuma this weekend said he had advised Malema to tone things down, as questions arose about internal discipline within the party in the wake of Malema's comments about Shilowa and the violent disruption of a Cope meeting in KwaZulu Natal last week.
Zuma told the SABC's Current Affairs programme he was aware of Malema's comments about Shilowa - who was once a security guard at the Star newspaper before helping to build the trades union federation Cosatu and rising to become Gauteng premier. He said he would address the issue with Malema when they met.
But NEC members, who are concerned about the impact Malema is having, believe he is becoming an expensive liability in terms of political support.
Zuma has in the past defended Malema by saying that he is still young and learning the political ropes.
He has used the example of former president Nelson Mandela, saying he, too, was a firebrand youth leader who challenged the ANC leadership of his time.
But NEC members have told the Daily News they do not believe it is helpful to compare Malema with Mandela's example as a leader of the ANCYL because it feeds into Malema's sense of self-importance and has the undesired result of encouraging him to behave the way he does.
At this weekend's meeting, the NEC is expected to come up with a way of dealing with Malema's outbursts.