President Jacob Zuma has blasted top ANC leaders for speaking out against the disciplinary process of the party’s youth league leader Julius Malema, and hinted that he was open to a political solution.
The Sunday Independent has learnt that Zuma told Monday’s ANC national working committee (NWC) that the issue of a political solution was not on the table because it is only rumour.
A member of the NWC interpreted Zuma’s comments to mean that the ANC president might be willing to resolve Malema’s disciplinary process politically instead of going all out until the end of the process.
“Zuma told the NWC that ‘I hear the issue of a political settlement but I only hear it in the corridors.’ This suggests that Zuma is willing to engage about a political settlement. There is no member who has come to him about it, suggesting that should there be one, he might consider it,” the member said.
The member said Zuma was “unprovoked” when he made the comments.
“We were supposed to close the meeting and he started moaning about people who don’t want charges against their friends. We were all shocked because nobody spoke about the disciplinary hearing, but you could see it is troubling him. Our take is that he wants people to go to him and raise (the issue of a political settlement) so that he can later say it did not come from him,” the member said.
“Everybody is awaiting the outcome of this hearing. It must either be a suspension, or an expulsion. This is going to sharpen the war. We are at war,” the member said.
Zuma’s comments come after at least two ANC national executive committee (NEC) members stood behind Malema. Last Friday night, ANC veteran Winnie Madikizela-Mandela said no other ANC Youth League leader has gone through what Malema had gone through.
ANC NEC member Tokyo Sexwale, a witness for Malema at the hearing, said this week it was wrong for Zuma to charge the ANCYL president.
This is the second time that Malema has been charged for misconduct since he was elected ANCYL president in Mangaung, Free State, in 2008.
First, the ANC found him guilty for comparing Zuma with his predecessor Thabo Mbeki and suspended his sentence for two years.
However, 16 months later, Malema was charged again for sowing divisions in the ruling party and bringing the organisation into disrepute.
His case was this week postponed after he was admitted to a private hospital in Polokwane, Limpopo.
The ANC’s National Disciplinary Committee (NDC) said it had postponed Malema’s case to next Saturday. “The disciplinary hearing of Julius Malema was postponed due to the hospitalisation of the charged member.
It is expected to recommence on October 15, 2011.”
“The NDC wishes comrade Malema a speedy recovery,” NDC chairman Derek Hanekom said.
The tussle over Malema’s disciplinary hearing and Zuma’s future also played out in KwaZulu-Natal.
The league’s NWC this week appointed an 18-member provincial task team to take over the running of the league in the province after it disbanded the provincial executive committee, which has said it would support Zuma at the ANC elective conference next year – a move at odds with the desire of the ANCYL to elect Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe in Zuma’s place.
ANCYL spokesman Floyd Shivambu said the task team would have all the responsibilities of a provincial executive committee, and would become “the only official voice of the ANC Youth League in KwaZulu-Natal”.
The interim leadership would be convened by Vukani Ndlovu and Sphe Zulu would be the co-ordinator. Bheki Mtolo, the former provincial secretary of the disbanded structure, is part of the interim leadership, increasing speculation that Malema dissolved the provincial executive committee to get his grip on the province.
“The task team is mandated to convene a provincial congress of the ANCYL before February 28, 2012. The task team will ensure that all regions of the ANCYL in KwaZulu-Natal that are due for regional congresses go to their respective congresses,” he said.
The NWC member said although Zuma did not mention who he was speaking about, it was clear that he was referring to Madikizela-Mandela, who is close to Malema. Sexwale made his comments after the NWC meeting.
The NWC member said Zuma said “members were questioning the legitimacy of the process”.
Zuma apparently said they were “unprincipled” because the party was “acting against their friend”.
On Friday, ANC spokesman Keith Khoza said he did not attend NWC meetings and referred queries to his boss, Jackson Mthembu, who could not be reached for comment yesterday. - Moffet Mofokeng