ANC Youth League president Julius Malema may have suffered the opprobrium of the opposition and civil society for his “Kill for Zuma” comments, but his support in the ruling tripartite alliance is rock-solid.
Interviews by the Mail &Guardian show that he has the backing of the Cosatu and the South African Communist Party, but that the ruling party’s top six leaders are split on whether he should be censured or not. Malema’s fellow executives of the league say his position is in line with what the Young Lion cubs have been saying for years.
On Thursday Malema made a strategic but not principled retreat from his comments and refused to apologise.
Malema told a press conference that “for sensitive ears, in future I will no longer use the word ‘kill'”.
“I will never say to any gathering people must be killed. After this exercise, I will never repeat the [word] kill. It was a lesson that when you operate under a particular political environment, you have to be careful,” he said.
Malema faced outrage and a potential lawsuit after his comments on Youth Day. The Human Rights Commission threatened legal action if he did not apologise within 14 days.
ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe this week called his comments ‘reckless’ but the deputy secretary-general Thandi Modise defended him as did Gwede Mantashe.
He said although he believed Malema’s comments bordered on being reckless and were not in line with the ANC policy, it would be wrong for the party leadership to condemn him.
“We refuse to condemn him because if we do that, we risk destroying him at this young stage. We should guide him through this phase until he is confident. It is people who do not take responsibility to nurture young people who will jump to the Human Rights Commission,” said Mantashe.
ANC president Jacob Zuma was at first silent and then ambivalent. The two shared a stage on Monday and Zuma stuck to the script even after Malema’s hell raising. But on Wednesday, the ANC president defended the judiciary and the rule of law, but also sought to reinterpret Malema’s rabble-rousing with democratic gloss.
Motlanthe told Independent Newspapers: “It is intemperate and reckless for anyone to say any such thing, especially after the recent [xenophobic] killings.”
He said that Malema’s remarks would be discussed at the ANC’s national working committee meeting next week.
ANC deputy secretary general Thandi Modise defended Malema saying “As a youth league leader Malema was attempting to express what the youth league feel about Zuma.
“It is unfortunate that everybody takes it [Malema’s comments] very literally.”
Cosatu president S’dumo Dlamini said Malema’s remarks merely symbolised discontent with the way Zuma has been dealt with by the state institutions.
“In my view, it was just a warning against state apparatus. People are stretching it too far. I think people should look at his intentions rather than to look at the words he said,” said Dlamini.
SACP spokesperson Malesela Maleka said his organisation accepted Malema’s explanation on the issue.
Young Communist League secretary Buti Manamela said Malema was misunderstood.
“I was at the rally and agree with the context within which he raised the matter. It is unfortunate that it has offended so many people,” said Manamela.
Manamela’s sentiments were shared by a youth league executive committee member Doctor Tshwale, who said those who condemned Malema were trying to get at Zuma.
Tshwale said Malema’s comments were not out of context with what the youth league has been saying over the past few years. “People are just pushing him to retreat so that there must no longer be a voice to defend Zuma.”