Tokyo warns ANC of youth league power

ANC heavyweight and Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale is stoking the political furnace - he has bluntly warned the party's leadership not to underestimate the power and influence of ANC Youth League president Julius Malema and his executive.

Sexwale said that former ANC president Alfred Xuma was removed from power when he refused to listen to the youth league.

Sexwale's warning was made as Malema and his executive plan how to reverse the "harsh" suspensions meted out to them by the ANC last week.

Sexwale, who testified for Malema during the disciplinary hearings into his conduct, was speaking at a gala dinner in Eastern Cape organised by the Dr AB Xuma Foundation.

In what appears to be a thinly veiled attack on President Jacob Zuma, Sexwale warned that no one was guaranteed re-election to a party position.

"There is no permanent position in the ANC . you serve because the people say so," Sexwale warned, before calling for calm and urging the youth league not to confront the ANC about the suspensions of its leaders.

Xuma was ANC president between 1940 and 1949 but was ousted when he fell out of favour with Nelson Mandela's ANC Youth League by flatly refusing to support its proposal for militant action.

He was replaced by a youth league-endorsed candidate, James Moroka, who joined the party only hours before his election.

Sexwale has called on the youth league to respect the decisions of the disciplinary committee, just as Xuma accepted his removal.

The ANC of Jacob Zuma continues to face pressure from the youth league to adopt radical economic policies that the league believes would arrest growing youth unemployment.

Zuma has said that the government will scale down its target of creating fivemillion jobs by 2014 because of the eurozone crisis, a move likely to boost the league's campaign for economic change.

Frustrated by Zuma's leadership and the worsening economic plight of young people, the league wants Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe to take over from Zuma and Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula to replace ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe.

Though Sexwale called for calm, and for "voices of reason" to emerge within the ANC, Malema, it seems, is preparing for total war.

On Saturday he told his members that they should ask Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe for money to fund their programmes.

The Times understands that Malema told the league's national executive committee that he had used his own money to fund league programmes because the league failed to raise funds.

He said it was "unfortunate" Muammar Gaddafi had been killed, implying he would have approached the Libyan dictator for funds.

According to at least three sources who attended the meeting, Malema said that the league should target countries in Africa and internationally for funding.

After its urgent executive meeting at the weekend, the youth league said it was confident that the appeals committee of the ANC's national disciplinary committee, headed by Cyril Ramaphosa, would find in favour of the provisionally suspended leaders.

Youth league members who attended the meeting said the national disciplinary committee, chaired by Derek Hanekom, had failed in its duty and this dereliction should be "exposed".

The youth league will reveal on Wednesday how it intends reversing the ANC suspensions.

Last night Malema told Carte Blanche in a recorded interview before the announcement of his suspension last week that he would never take the ANC to court.

"I will appeal to the NDC [national disciplinary committee] ... and if I lose then I will appeal to the ANC NEC [national executive committee] ... or if that fails then I will petition the ANC, which is the highest body. I will never take the ANC to court ... if the appeal fails then that will be the end of my political career," Malema said

Sexwale told the gala dinner guests that it was time for calm in the ANC.

"The youth is our future. Time is on their side. They need to be continuously guided. We want them to listen to what we are saying.

"They must know that we are there to listen to them." - Additional reporting by Sapa