{"id":7037,"date":"2012-02-07T08:10:12","date_gmt":"2012-02-07T08:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.faceofmalawi.com\/?p=7037"},"modified":"2012-02-07T08:10:12","modified_gmt":"2012-02-07T08:10:12","slug":"suspension-of-ancs-youth-leader-upheld","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/2012\/02\/07\/suspension-of-ancs-youth-leader-upheld\/","title":{"rendered":"Suspension of ANC\u2019s Youth Leader Upheld"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A disciplinary committee of South Africa\u2019s ruling African National Congress (ANC) has upheld the suspension of Julius Malema, the firebrand leader of the organization\u2019s youth wing.<\/p>\n

Julius Malema, whose political career now hangs by the thinnest of threads, will continue serving as leader of the ANC Youth League until further notice, ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu has confirmed.<\/p>\n

Confusion reigned this weekend after the ANC\u2019s national disciplinary committee of appeals (NDCA) upheld a ruling by the national disciplinary committee (NDC) which in November found Malema and other youth league leaders guilty of sowing divisions within the ANC and bringing the party into disrepute.<\/p>\n

The NDC\u2019s decision to suspend Malema for five years was upheld by the appeal committee when it delivered its verdict on Saturday.<\/p>\n

However, it also decided that Malema could give evidence in mitigation before the national disciplinary committee, but that the ANC would in turn be allowed to argue in aggravation.<\/p>\n

For Malema, this means the length of his suspension could either be reduced or increased.<\/p>\n

When the NDC found Malema guilty it also decided that he serve a two-year suspension as a result of pleading guilty to sowing divisions during his first disciplinary hearing in 2010 \u2013 and that this would run concurrently with the five-year suspension.<\/p>\n

While the chairman of the appeal committee, Cyril Ramaphosa, made no mention on Saturday of whether or not the earlier suspension would take immediate effect, ANC spokesman Keith Khoza said it would.<\/p>\n

But the ANC at the weekend distanced itself from the statement. \u201cCde Keith has already apologised for speaking out of turn and without a mandate on a matter that resides with the NDC and other leading structures of the ANC,\u201d Mthembu said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Justice Malala on The Justice Factor on Sunday, Mthembu said people should not be \u201cso hasty to remove people from their desks\u201d and to allow \u201cANC processes to take their (course)\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are a very serious organisation. We are not a kangaroo court. The ANC processes issues properly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndeed, the leadership, including the NDC, will study and interpret the impact of the NDCA ruling with regard to the previous (2010) disciplinary case and act accordingly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cActing accordingly means also informing those who you are acting (against). It does not mean that we should then \u2013 as spokespersons \u2013 be speaking out of turn without any mandate on these matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mthembu told Independent Newspapers on Sunday: \u201cThese matters are in the jurisdiction of the NDC and the ANC leadership structures.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is all we are prepared to say for now. We think it would not be proper for anybody to suggest that, until these internal processes have taken hold, comrade Malema should not go to an NEC meeting. He remains ANC Youth League president until these processes have taken their course,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

It could not be established whether or not Malema was attending the NEC meeting in Pretoria at the weekend. He sits on the NEC by virtue of his presidency of the youth league.<\/p>\n

Pressed for further clarification on Sunday, Mthembu said the NDC and the NEC should be left to deal with the matter in their own time \u201cso that we don\u2019t goad them into hasty action\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe appeals committee did not say anything on the previous (2010) disciplinary case. So the structures of the ANC, including the NDC that found on that previous case, must say what is the process moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Writing online for Politicsweb, political analyst Eusebius McKaiser argued on Sunday that the ANC \u201cforgot\u201d to confirm whether or not it had informed Malema that his previous sentence now took effect.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a loose end that will cause confusion for a day or three. They need to inform him in order to give effect to the previous suspended order\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cAt any rate, given the hype and public confusion, the party would do well to, first, inform Malema of the implication and, second, to explain this to a confused public,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

It was also not clear whether ANCYL secretary-general Sindiso Magaqa must publicly apologise to Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba within five days or whether this too could wait until he had argued in mitigation of his sentence. Malema, Magaqa and Malema\u2019s right-hand man, Floyd Shivambu, whose three-year suspension was also upheld on appeal, have 14 days in which to do so.<\/p>\n

Speculation is mounting as to whether Malema\u2019s deputy, Ronald Lamola, will step up to fill his boots. The charge of barging into a meeting of the ANC\u2019s top six officials was set aside by the appeal committee, which let Lamola, deputy league secretary-general Kenetswe Mosenogi and treasurer Pule Mabe off the hook.<\/p>\n

The appeal committee\u2019s decision has fuelled debate about succession within the league.<\/p>\n

Lamola, seen as a staunch ally of Malema, could face a challenge from treasurer Mabe, who previously challenged Malema for the youth league leadership.<\/p>\n

The organisation may be forced to call a national conference to elect and mandate an entirely new leadership.<\/p>\n

Given that Malema continued to mock Zuma in public \u2013 by singing songs about the \u201cshower man\u201d causing the youth league problems \u2013 even as his disciplinary proceedings were under way, analysts have suggested that Malema could end up with an even stiffer sentence after evidence is heard in mitigation or aggravation of his sentence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe chances of a reduced sentence are zero\u2026 All that (arguments in mitigation) will achieve is to keep Malema politically on a life support system for a little while longer. It will not stave off the eventual outcome \u2013 political demise,\u201d McKaiser argued.<\/p>\n

Another possibility is that Malema may challenge the ANC in court. City Press on Sunday quoted \u201clawyers close to the case\u201d as saying Malema had already \u201cstarted preparing papers\u201d in case he decided to go that route.<\/p>\n

However, political analyst Karima Brown noted that, while this was technically possible, Malema had effectively closed that avenue himself by having previously taken other ANC members to task for dragging the party to the courts over internal disputes.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo in a way (Malema) has already made the decision for himself. But he is a desperate man at this stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe might want to go that route if he feels desperate enough to try to hang on (to the youth league presidency), because he needs to stay alive in the ANC structures for his political campaign to unseat Jacob Zuma to continue,\u201d she told Malala on Sunday.<\/p>\n

This view was supported by McKaiser, who noted that the \u201cpolitical cost of a court battle would ruin Malema\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a man who will need political allies when possible tax evasion and money laundering charges surface, this would be a strategic misstep,\u201d he added. Both Sars and the Hawks are investigating Malema\u2019s financial dealings.<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old Malema has been leading a campaign to nationalize the country\u2019s mines and forcibly turn white-own land over to blacks.<\/p>\n

In November, Malema was handed a five-year suspension for causing divisions within the ANC and bringing it into disrepute. Though once a supporter of South African President Jacob Zuma, Malema has recently gone on the attack against the Zuma administration.<\/p>\n

A hearing on mitigating Malema\u2019s sentence is to be held in two weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A disciplinary committee of South Africa\u2019s ruling African National Congress (ANC) has upheld the suspension of Julius Malema, the firebrand […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[1509,1510,379],"class_list":["post-7037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news","tag-anc","tag-malema","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}