Respect us: ANC leaders

ANC national chairman Baleka Mbete has warned ill-disciplined members they could find themselves in the political wilderness.

Mbete was speaking at Osizweni stadium in Newcastle, northern KwaZulu-Natal, during the organisation's centenary torch handing over ceremony from Mpumalanga to KwaZulu-Natal.

The ANC is currently faced with disciplinary challenges and some of its youth wing leaders are facing charges that might see them expelled from the party.

The situation is so bad that every week, senior party leaders are ridiculed and called names.

Suspended ANC Youth League president Julius Malema criticised President Jacob Zuma on Friday, calling him a dictator.

Mbete said one of the important things former leaders or presidents of the ANC taught their generation was respect.

"How you conduct yourself is important in the ANC. Former leaders taught us to respect ourselves, the organisation and our conferences."

ANC provincial chairman and KwaZulu-Natal Premier Zweli Mkhize said there are people who join the ANC and think they are far better than the organisation. He told young people to conduct themselves in a manner that does not disdain its leaders.

"Respect is crucial. There are people who were born yesterday when there was no longer fighting and think they can just disrespect and scorn ANC leadership. ANC was not established for people who, when they look into the mirror, will think that they are bigger then the organisation," said Mkhize.

"The ANC has the right to expel people and it's important for people to guard against such actions. No one is bigger than the ANC."