Embattled African National Congress Youth League leader Julius Malema has threatened the ruling party leadership ahead of the resumption of his disciplinary hearing, the Sunday Times reported.
“This is a war. In a war, never expect roses, and in a war there are casualties. But we can guarantee that we will win,” he was quoted as telling about 1 000 supporters in Alexandra outside Johannesburg on Saturday.
“In 2012, the ANC will correct itself and elect good leaders,” Malema added, referring to the party’s elective conference in Mangaung next year.
Malema and four other youth league leaders were appearing before the ANC’s national disciplinary panel on Sunday on a charge of disrupting a meeting of ANC leaders last month.
From Monday, Malema is expected to face the panel alone to answer to further charges of dividing the ANC and bringing it into disrepute. He risks suspension or expulsion from the ruling party.
On Saturday, Malema insisted that he had done nothing wrong and that the ANC leadership was taking disciplinary action against him because he had called for economic transformation.
‘The revolution is undermined by air-conditioned small rooms’
“Instead of defending economic freedom, they have kept us in a room. We cannot do anything, we are arrested, we must explain ourselves in some small room. The revolution is undermined by air-conditioned small rooms.”
“The crime we have committed is reminding people about their rights in the Freedom Charter. If I am expelled, then I know I will die with my soul intact,” he was quoted as saying.
The Sunday press reported that the hearing was being held in Kliprivier, south of Johannesburg, but ANC spokesperson Keith Khoza said he could not confirm this.
The ANC decided to move the hearing from Luthuli House to an undisclosed venue after youth league supporters went on the rampage outside the ANC headquarters late last month.
Malema supporters pelted police and journalists with half-bricks and bottles and set fire to T-shirts with a picture of President Jacob Zuma. The ANC condemned the rampage, with secretary-general Gwede Mantashe comparing it to “the storming of the Bastille”. – Sapa and Staff reporter
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