Hands off our Julius, league tells the ANC

A defiant ANC Youth League has declared that its embattled president, Julius Malema, will not quit.

The declaration, which is likely to create tensions within the ANC leadership, was announced yesterday by league deputy president Ronald Lamola.

He said the league would not agree that its leadership be banished for narrow political purposes.

"There should never be any committee that removes the leadership that was elected uncontested without the consent and agreement of the people.

"The foreign tradition of trying to remove the leadership of an elected structure of the ANC Youth League without the consent [of] the people should be nipped in the bud because if committees remove leaders of the ANC Youth League, they will one day appoint leaders of the ANC Youth League.

"That will be a complete undermining of the will of the people," Lamola said.

Malema, league secretary-general Sindiso Magaqa and spokesman Floyd Shivambu appeared before the ANC's disciplinary committee this week to argue in mitigation of sentence.

The three had their sentences confirmed by the ANC's disciplinary appeals committee after the ANC leadership pressed charges against them for bringing the party into disrepute following their conduct and public statements.

The decision to endorse Malema until the 2014 elective congress is likely to put the league in direct conflict with its mother body.

Speaking at Wits University last night, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said the youth league could not disobey the decision to suspend its leader.

"Once a decision is taken by a higher organ, it is binding on all lower organs. Whether you think it is stupid or uninformed, it is a decision and it cannot be refused."

Mantashe told the gathering that the ANC had in the past expelled members who defied the party. They were expelled after six years.

"People ask: 'Why [does it take] so long to expel disruptive members?' The ANC is an elephant that moves slowly ... We do not just expel," Mantashe said.

Lamola said Malema, Magaqa and Shivambu were convicted for making utterances that were part of the league's 24th national congress resolutions in June.

"The entire process of the disciplinary proceedings of the ANC was politically motivated and meant to resolve political struggles and battles within the ANC.

"... We believe that the ANC carries an obligation to educate and guide the ANC Youth League on all critical policy issues and not persecute the leadership for articulating the policy positions of the ANC Youth League," Lamola said.

ANC spokesman Keith Khoza declined to comment on the press conference yesterday.

Should the committee uphold the suspensions of the league's three leaders, the decision by the league to ignore the suspensions could lead to a stalemate, which could pave the way for a political solution. - Additional reporting by Sapa