Malema wrecks ANCYL
2010-07-04 13:00
Sabelo Ndlangisa and George Matlala
ANC Youth League president Julius Malema is facing an unprecedented revolt from his own organisation, just days ahead of its national general council (NGC).
Leadership structures in three provinces have been disbanded; the Congress of SA Students (Cosas) – which Malema used to lead – has turned on him; and his former allies in two provinces are taking the ANCYL to court over leadership succession disputes.
There is now concern that Malema and his allies will use the meeting – the biggest since he was elected league leader in 2008 – to settle scores with rivals such as his deputy, Andile Lungisa, and former Limpopo chair Lehlohonolo Masoga, who have challenged his leadership.
Court papers Masoga filed in the South Gauteng High Court last week reveal that the two are united against Malema.
“I foresee a political disaster because that NGC is about settling scores,” an ANCYL leader from the Eastern Cape’s Amathole region said yesterday.
“They want to deal with certain members of the national executive committee (NEC) and certain anti-Malema provinces. There will hardly be any political content.”
The Eastern Cape ANCYL has described him as “an embarrassment to the ANCYL and ANC members”.
In papers before the Grahamstown High Court it blames its inability to hold successive provincial elective conferences last month on Malema’s bid to remain at the organisation’s helm when it holds its national elective congress during April next year.
In the urgent court interdict provincial chair Mlibo Qoboshiyana asks the court to stop the ANCYL national executive committee from holding the provincial elective conference in Grahamstown on Saturday.
“If the congress is allowed to proceed on July 10 the underhand strategy to muster support for Malema will have been successful”, the court papers say.
“Malema has, through his conduct (which is well-known), embarrassed some, certainly most, of the members of the provincial executive committee, the league, the ANC and broader South African society.”
On Friday ANCYL spokesperson Floyd Shivambu threatened disciplinary action against members who had resorted to courts to solve their disputes with the league’s leadership.
“The ANCYL will make sure that all members who are part of the court actions directly and indirectly ultimately account through internal organisational processes,” Shivambu said.
Malema is also facing rebellion from North West, where he disbanded the youth league’s leadership on suspicion that it would not support him.
Suspended NEC member Priscilla Williams and a branch leader, David Kham, are said to be working tirelessly behind the scenes to dislodge Malema.
Kham has been a Malema detractor from their days in Cosas.
In Free State, where regional conferences have been delayed, an anti-Malema group is making inroads in the province.
The rebellion against Malema is being waged from the Motheo region.
A Motheo regional leader said: “We are dealing with a monster here. But we don’t want to confront Julius openly because they will expel us.”
Meanwhile, the league has agreed not to continue with a disciplinary hearing against Masoga until his legal bid to interdict the process has been heard.
The case will be heard on July 13 after it was postponed on Friday to give the league time to file its reply.
Masoga was charged with misconduct after he walked out of the league’s chaotic Limpopo conference in April.
Outside the court on Friday Cosas secretary-general Antonio Carelse said the student organisation was supporting Lungisa to replace Malema.
“We are supporting change in the youth league because it is being run like a spaza shop these days,” he said. “We are running to the courts because other people think they can use the league to accumulate wealth.”
Carelse was accompanied by his deputy, Sbonelo Fhezi; Cosas members of the ANCYL national executive committee, including chair of Free State Fezile Sonkwane and KwaZulu-Natal Cosas leader Andile Mkhize.