Polokwane - Sacked African National Congress Youth League leader Julius Malema has told supporters of the Friends of the Youth League that he is not going to form another political party nor leave the ANC.
Speaking in Polokwane on Monday evening, Malema said he was not like those who formed the Congress of the People (COPE) after their defeat at the ANC’s 2007 Polokwane conference.
Malema told his supporters he would remain outside the ANC gates like an “expelled child” waiting for his parents to change their minds and let him back in.
“We are not going to be like those who were defeated in Polokwane and formed another party,” said Malema. “We are waiting for the day the parents will change their mind and we'll go in.”
Mosiuoa Lekota, Mluleki George and Mbhazima Shilowa formed COPE after their presidency candidate Thabo Mbeki lost to Jacob Zuma at Polokwane 2007.
Malema told his supporters they would fight from the outside to make sure that Zuma was not re-elected in December at the ANC's national conference to be held in Mangaung.
Friends of the Youth League championed a campaign - Bring Back Malema (BBM) - after he lost his appeal to remain the League president.
“You don’t have to be office bearers for you to lead. We lead with ideas. Zuma does not have thinking capacity, that’s why his political report to the national general council was that of the ANC Youth League,” said Malema.
“We are going to fight until we achieve what we stand for, we are not going to dissolve. The struggle for economic freedom is not going to please individuals.”
Malema claimed that the Zuma leadership removed him because they were afraid of the League’s ideas.
According to Malema, the ANC was in crisis because there were no more revolutionaries at the top. - Sapa