CONTROVERSIAL AFRICAN National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) leader Julius Malema was allegedly defiant at a meeting with ANC officials yesterday in which he was officially charged with bringing the ruling party into disrepute, local media have reported.
Sunday newspapers The Times and City Press had reported the ANC’s top leadership structure was set to bring charges against Mr Malema that included ill-discipline and promoting racism, sexism, tribal chauvinism, and religious and political intolerance.
Mr Malema is said to have received a letter from ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe last week informing him of the charges.
The 28-year-old youth league leader has landed himself in hot water because of public outbursts, including undermining President Jacob Zuma’s mediation efforts in Zimbabwe’s stalled powersharing deal.
On a trip to the troubled country last month he backed President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party over its coalition partner the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which he called a “Mickey Mouse party”.
He also angered senior ANC members in the wake of the murder of white supremacist Eugene Terre’Blanche by ignoring an order by them and the courts to stop singing a controversial liberation song that called on people to shoot white farmers.
In addition, he verbally abused a BBC journalist 10 days ago, calling him a “bastard”, before ejecting the reporter from a press conference for daring to question his reaction to criticism by the MDC.
A week ago President Zuma, who is also the leader of the ruling party, turned away from Mr Malema over his outbursts, saying his actions were “alien” to the ANC. This prompted the young firebrand to question whether he should have been criticised in public by the ANC.
Youth league spokeswoman Magdalene Moonsamy confirmed yesterday her boss was due to attend a meeting at the ANC’s national headquarters in Johannesburg, but would not elaborate.
However, ETV reported last night that Malema and his ANCYL colleagues told the disciplinary committee it could not bring charges against him because he was speaking on behalf of the youth league, rather than as an individual, and it was an autonomous organisation. If he continues to openly defy the ANC, and it finds him guilty, he could be expelled from the movement.