Malema stays defiant at mitigation hearing
Image by: SIPHIWE SIBEKO / Reuters
ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema remains defiant despite facing possible expulsion from the ruling party - insisting that the charges against him were trumped up.
Malema argued in mitigation of his suspension from the party this week and called two ANC Youth League national executive committee members, Andile Lungisa and Abner Mosase, to defend him against the charges of which he was found guilty. These related to calling for regime change in Botswana and decrying the death of the African agenda since the departure of former president Thabo Mbeki.
The Sunday Times has learnt that Malema stood by his original argument that the comments he made on the two issues were not his personal views but positions adopted by the youth league's NEC.
Lungisa and Mosase backed this up and told the ANC's national disciplinary committee - headed by deputy science and technology minister Derek Hanekom - that it was the NEC that took these radical positions and Malema merely articulated a collective decision.
But on Thursday the prosecution is understood to have called for the expulsion of the youth leader, arguing that he had shown no remorse for his utterances and actions.
Malema, league secretary general Sindiso Magaqa and its spokesman Floyd Shivambu were found guilty of ill discipline and bringing the party into disrepute.
Malema was initially handed a five-year suspension, while Shivambu was suspended for three years for insulting a journalist.
Magaqa was given a three-year suspended sentence on condition that he apologised to Public Enterprises minister Malusi Gigaba for insulting him.
The three lost their appeals and were referred back to the NDC to argue in mitigation of their sentences.
Hanekom's committee wrapped up the hearings late Thursday night and is expected to announce the outcome this week.
But the youth league has come out in defence of Malema - vowing to retain him as president until his current term ends in 2014.
This has angered the motherbody. The party's secretary-general Gwede Mantashe told a Young Communist League gathering at Wits University on Thursday night that the league was bound by the ANC's decisions even though they thought such decisions to be "stupid and uninformed".
However, while there was a public show of support for Malema from the league's NEC, there was also strong lobbying by another faction, which is pushing for treasurer Pule Mabe and ambitious Eastern Cape secretary Ayanda Matiti to take over.
They are now awaiting Hanekom's announcement before pushing for a national general council which can elect people to the vacant positions.
"The support [for Malema] is temporary. Once he's out . that position by the [league's] NEC becomes useless. Comrades are ambitious [and] people will come out," said one NEC member.
For the Malema faction, retaining Ronald Lamola in his position as deputy president would keep them in control of the league.
Malema will address a youth league rally in Bushbuckridge today where he is expected to lash out at the ANC leadership and complain about the handling of his case.



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Malema stays defiant at mitigation hearing
For Commenters Consideration | Please stick to the subject matterCOMMENTS [24]
grant99
Posted 97 days agoIt seems like just the other day that Malema was calling for Mbeki to be replaced by Zuma.
Something along the lines of, "We will carry Zuma on our shoulders to Union Buildings". It proves what former British prime minister said that a week is a very long time in politics.
Timbuck5
As you say, it IS a case of the TAIL WAGGING THE DOG!......
I doubt Malema ever write's his speeches down PRIOR top the event..... he just RAMBLES ON....N ON..... n ON.... and SPEWS ALL SORTS OF CRAPPOLA out for the masses to enjoy... he is actually seen as a COMEDIENNE by the masses.... not a political "Leada"..
Everyone has a good laugh and that is how it ends... excpet for Malema and Co... they THINK they have made INROADS....
disillusionedstill
South Africa does not understand freedom of speech and thought and when the 'other side' is getting its message through loud and clear. the messenger is attacked.
Or maybe, even more dangerous for the fearsome, wounded.
ArchAngelZerachiel
Your posts indicate a tendency of not wanting a free tenderpreneurship to end.
Just like MalEnema, ship number 66, your time is up!!!
alvonhumb
Posted 97 days agodisillusionedstill
Get used to it, or emigrate!
alvonhumb
disillusionedstill
Maybe you have not noticed but the klepto's have already got 'the upper hand'.
Julius Malema has done nothing to you or the ANC except open his mouth.
And organise a few PW Botha style meeting break-ups for which he should be reprimanded.
Opening one's mouth can be countered by others also opening their mouths - this, in fact, is what separates us from alternatives such as throwing people out of high-rise windows or aircraft, beating people to a pulp, etc.
if you prefer the latter, rather emigrate.
If you favour the power of the pen, do not support the assault on someone who, like it or not, has the 'gift of the gab'.
the_original_MommaCyndi
Posted 96 days agoWhen you get to the bottom of the hole your mouth dug for you - shut up and stop digging.
Just passing on some valuable advice that I got.
disillusionedstill
Reminds me of how Mandela and every other leader who hit the nail on the head was demonised by the wh1te media cliches and Alice-in-Wonderlust fairytales.
Julius Malema's issues of Land, Labour and Capital are not going away.
Tough at the 'top' of the hole hey - you got the most to lose!
the_original_MommaCyndi
???? I'm not sure which page you are on but the ANC is hardly the 'white media'. Perhaps I got it wrong but isn't it an ANC disciplinary hearing that he had ????
I got nothing to lose. No mining interests, no labour force, no land that cannot be instantly re-mortgaged ..... nope, sorry to disappoint but I have nothing at all to lose
frm.nobody
Posted 96 days agoTimbuck5
Posted 96 days agoStarting to look like a Taxi Boss... to many meals ahead... and to FEW visits to the Toilets!!!
Wonder if the Fat F UCK can see his toes?
Bra-Beige
destroyer
THAT MUST BE FROM CHANGING IT'S MIND MANUALLY, FAR TO OFTEN!!!! :)
Hi--Jack
Posted 96 days agoQuite a validated sentence judging by his current behavior. He should do like Mbeki and bow out gracefully.....
disillusionedstill
That may have helped Mbeki apply a bit of discretion.
But, funny for someone like you seem to be, you are supporting your otherwise sworn enemy in a 'my enemy's enemy is my friend' type of manner.
Whose side you gonna be on next week?
mcritic
Posted 96 days agoMaybe - just maybe - it is the ANC's way of disposing of an embarrassment Malema and his cronies looted Limpopo and he ANC would like to see them geeting punished for following the example of the leader to the north of them. The final straw that broke the camel's back came when Malema took a bribe from Mugabe and started to do his dirty on Zuma and Khama.
Yes - taking into account the above - Malema was not tried for what he actually did - but then the dumb bunny fat fool should keep his mouth shut and not expose his idiocy on a continuous basis. That would have stopped the ANC in their tracks and deal with the Limpopo scandals on a different basis.
Stompie_se_Paai
Posted 96 days ago...agent Malema's 'used by date' has expired. His mission was to test the soil on the ANC's attempts at the nationalisation of all and everything in the private sector still operating in SA in order to cement the ANC's permanent stay at the trough ...which he did with blind vigour! Sadly for them, these experimental results, as we all know, proved disastrous for the corrupt ANC's Communistic future agenda ...and Malema keeps on rubbing salt into these wounds with his on and on going rantings.
Sadly the the slimy Jelly Tsotsi's total absence of common sense may land him in the morgue soon if he doesn't get the message soon and keep his putupap-hole shut!
Zimbabwe's Zanu ANC PF is looking for a new dictator ...maybe Malema should apply?!
RealAfricanDemocrat
Posted 96 days agoAs per design regardless of what he says, Malema's mitigation hearing is going to fail. Whereas Jacob Zuma won the ANC presidency by comparing himself to former President Mbeki, it is now a sin to compare the incumbent who is obviously out of his depth compared to the former president. It is clear that Jacob Zuma and Gwede Mantashe would like to have Julius Malema expelled from the ANC because they realise that he still commands a lot of support within the ANC. The idea is to strike the shepard and the sheep will scatter. They thus believe that they still have the time to manage the fall-out in the run-up to Mangaung.
The attack on Malema is coupled with other strategies and tactics. The decion to allow nominations by brnaches only in October is meant to allow Zuma factionalists to continue to campaign clandestinely and openly for a second term. In the meantime anyone who is opposed to a second term, will be subjected to disciplinary hearings and if in government like the Limpop Government, will be targeted by central government and placed under administration. On the other hand COSATU structures that are opposed to Zuma's challengers will be staging disingenuous and hypocritical marches that selectively target corruption in places where Jacob Zuma is not supported. In the meantime those who are identified as challengers to the second term will be intimidated through the media by giving the impression that they do not enjoy the support of the majority of ANC branches, and forced to withdraw from contestation. Within the ANC Youth League, ANC leaders routing for a second term, will continue to sow divisions and encourage mutiny against the Julius Malema-aligned leadership. In doing this, nothing will be spared, including lies, fabrications, half-truths and deliberate distortions. The idea ofcourse is to also use brown envelopes to induce journalists, particularly Black , to write stories which fit with their factionalist agenda and the second term objective.
Overall, in public, Jacob Zuma and Gwede Mantashe will be ruthless in dealing with those who are opposed to a second term, thus paralysing them through intimidation and fear. If the strategy works, Jacob Zuma and Gwede Mantashe win big in Mangaung and start purging those who are opposed to them. If it backfires, ANC branches are going to reclaim the organisation and bring in a new leadership which will reverse the undemocratic tendencies and practices we have seen being introduced by the Zumantashe dictatorship.
Unfortunately if Jacob Zuma wins a second various democratic institutions are going to be targeted, but in particular the judiciary and Constitutional Court which Jacob Zuma sees as a nuisance. The next government after Jacob Zuma's second term, if the project succeeds, will be a pure SACP government led by Blade Nzimande and Gwede Mantashe, and will do away with African nationalism and introduce communism, and a dictatorship of the proletariat. Unfortunately the ANC National Executive Committe and National Working Committee have been reduced to Jacob Zuma's personal tools. Members have in general committed intellectual suicide for the sake of political survival and even though some are opposed to what is going on are not even prepared to raise their heads above the parapet. when we hear men like Free State Premier Ace Magashule say the Zuma leadership is 100% right, then we know that senior ANC members have suspended their mental faculties. It will take extremely bold members of the ANC NEC like Fikile Mbalula wo may have to resign his position in government to focus on the campaign to counter the second termers. But the likes of Trevor Manuel and Cyril Ramaphosa, who parade themselves as the face of reason, will continue to blow with the wind, with absolutely no regard for the interests of the ANC and the country. The ANC Youth League and Fikile Mbalula can still win the game handsomely as long as they have dedicated foot-soldiers in KZN, Eastern Cape and around the country.
disillusionedstill
Be that as it may, your argument makes sense but it is 'ahead of the game'.
My simple view of the immediate issue is that freedom to think and speak is under threat.
Why can the ANC (Zille is incapable) counter the youth league with a valid counter-argument?
The main thrust of the league's issues are (even Clem Sunter agrees the issues) valid, period.
The method is open to debate but where the fear lies, is that the capitalist system as it stands (we have a mixed economy already, albeit skewed) does not have the solutions, also period.
Have a good week.
stub_born
Posted 96 days agoHis stupidity, also fueled by his arrogance made him to commit the worst of the sins: overtly challenge Showara Zuma......
Stompie_se_Paai
"......Malema is not dumb......" , "His (Malema's?) stupidity...", all in one comment.
Makes sense in a weird way ...like baboons, regardless the number in the crate, the intelligence level remains the same. No matter how they scheme, the complete ANC-bunch and their supporters will remain corrupt with hidden agendas on Communism with the primary goal to self-enrich ...mainly by robbing the poor ...and the country's dwindling White citizens, of course!
alvonhumb
Posted 96 days ago