President Jacob Zuma sought yesterday to shed two persistent moral millstones: condemning Malawi's imprisonment of a gay couple and repudiating ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema's call for nationalisation of the mines.

Answering questions in Parliament, he insisted Malema's visit to Zimbabwe and his endorsement of President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF had not undermined South African mediation in the country.

But referring to the 29-year-old Malema as "the child", Zuma rejected Malema's insistence in parliament on Wednesday that the ANCYL always gets its way.

Arguing for nationalisation during public hearings by the mineral resources committee, Malema invoked Nelson Mandela's use of the ANCYL to swing the movement from passive resistance to armed struggle.

"If you know the history of the ANC Youth League, you know it [nationalisation] will happen," he said.

Zuma disagreed yesterday.

"On this matter the ANC has a policy. It doesn't depend on the views of an individual. We don't work like that. We work on the ANC policy that emerges out of vigorous discussions. The ANC policy is clear, that we don't have nationalisation policy as the ANC."

Challenged by Democratic Alliance MP Dion George to repudiate "this despicable homophobic assault on the human rights and dignity of our brothers and sisters across Africa", Zuma condemned Malawi's imprisonment of two gay men who announced their intention to marry.

Though he said he had already condemned the persecution of the two men, there is no public record of any negative comment from him or from the government.

George told The Times Zuma's condemnation was a welcome breakthrough, but added: "What we need to see now is President Zuma saying this to all his African colleagues across the continent."

Zuma drew intense international criticism in 2006 when he condemned gay marriage, which has been sanctioned by the Constitutional Court, as "a disgrace to the nation and to God".