Press kicked out after Malema is booed

ANC Youth League president Julius Malema yesterday barred journalists from the opening session of the organisation's Eastern Cape conference soon after he was booed by delegates.

A group of delegates began booing and shouting as a chauffeur-driven Malema arrived at the Grahamstown Indoor Sports Centre in a grey Mercedes-Benz.

"We don't want you, Malema. You are divisive. Go away," shouted Zola Capucapu, from an East London youth league branch. The crowd cheered and ululated when Malema's deputy, Andile Lungisa, arrived soon afterwards. Lungisa, who hails from the Eastern Cape, is said to be campaigning to unseat Malema at the league's national conference next year.

While the crowd sang Lungisa's praises, Malema remained in his car.

Soon afterwards, youth league secretary-general Vuyiswa Tulelo told journalists that they would not be allowed into the conference hall to listen to Malema speak.

"The president will be speaking only to delegates of the youth league in a closed session. We cannot allow you to come inside," he said.

Asked why they were booing their leaders, Capucapu accused Malema of failing to deal with issues that affected the youth, such as unemployment, and, instead, focusing on issues such as nationalisation of mines and ANC succession debates.

"The youth are dropping out of school, but we don't have programmes to address that. The youth are unemployed ... but they (Malema) choose to focus on other things.

"All they are doing is dividing us. We will replace him with Andile, come 2011," said Capucapu.

Meanwhile, youth league spokesman Floyd Shivambu yesterday accused the SACP of being behind leadership battles in the organisation.

This was after SACP general-secretary Blade Nzimande angered the league by writing in his online column that it was a haven for factionalist squabbles.

Yesterday, Shivambu said Nzimande's remarks confirmed youth league suspicions that the SACP was behind some of the league's troubles.

"Dr Nzimande's observations confirm the reports the ANCYL recurrently received that some of the wayward and ill-disciplined elements in the youth league are handled by the SACP. Now that the proverbial dogs have been hit so hard, the handlers are coming out, crying foul and presenting a picture that there is a factional problem in the ANC Youth League."