Mbeki now ANCYL darling

The ANC Youth League is pushing for former president Thabo Mbeki to be more vocal on the economy and politics.

Speaking on SAfm radio yesterday, suspended youth league leader Julius Malema said it will ask for a meeting with Mbeki to convince him that he should become more visible and vocal.

League spokesman Floyd Shivambu said: "W e will seek an audience with him ... currently he is benefiting other countries outside South Africa. He expresses opinions about Libya etcetera but never comments about the local dynamic, be it political or economic."

There have been reports that the league previously asked Mbeki for a meeting. But The Times has been reliably informed that Mbeki asked the league to get the approval of the ANC leadership.

Malema was seen sharing a joke with Mbeki in Mangaung at the weekend during the ANC centenary celebrations.

Mbeki's spokesman, Mukoni Ratshitanga, dismissed the reports of previous attempts by the youth league to set up a meeting with Mbeki.

But he said Mbeki would have no objection to a meeting with the youth league.

"The former president has indicated that he is willing to meet any South African provided that he has time. The request will be considered like other requests."

Shivambu denied that the league had previously asked for a meeting with Mbeki: "It never happened before, we couldn't have hidden it."

Malema, who played a big part in Mbeki's firing in 2008, told SAfm that Mbeki's decision not to comment on domestic policy "is depriving us of that intellectual wealth".

"I wish Mbeki would reconsider his decision not to participate," Malema said.

Malema and the youth league also played a critical part in the 2007 removal of Mbeki as ANC president.

Malema called on the ANC's n ational e xecutive c ommittee to recall Mbeki in 2008 "or the youth league would do it itself".

This was after the Pietermaritzburg High Court acquitted Jacob Zuma of corruption charges, saying they were politically motivated. At the time Malema was a big ally of Zuma, saying the league was prepared to take up arms and "kill" for him.

After the ANC charged Malema for, among other offence s, comparing Zuma with Mbeki, last year, his relationship with Zuma soured.

He then changed his tune and said Mbeki was the best leader the ANC had produced.

Malema was quoted as saying that the only problem with Mbeki was "failing to allow the leadership of the ANC to decide on who they wanted in the leadership, and for wanting a third term in leading the organisation".

Since his fallout with Zuma, Malema has increasingly questioned the president's leadership performance.

ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu declined to comment.