The Young Communist League (YCL) has condemned the publication of African National Congress Youth League president Julius Malema’s matric results in a daily newspaper on Friday.
”The YCL is concerned [about] the continued venomous and systematic attacks directed against ANC Youth League president Julius Malema,” the YCL said in a statement.
The Star published the youth leader’s results where he allegedly scraped through matric with an H in maths and a G in woodwork, both on standard grade.
The YCL said it was disgusted by the leaking of the results to the media, and ”this undermines the confidentiality of academic records between the student and educational authorities”.
It said this provided a prima facie case that needed to be answered by education authorities in ”malicious attacks aimed at destroying the political career of the ANCYL president”.
According to the Star report, Malema obtained Es in Sepedi HG (higher grade) and second-language Afrikaans HG, an F in Geography HG, a D in History SG and a C in second language English HG.
”The publication of these results is nothing else but a political strategy to implant the notion that to be a good leader you must be ‘certificated’,” said the YCL.
The league said it believed ”firmly” in the view that a leader’s educational intellect was organically cultivated and linked to his or her practical experiences and interactions with the ordinary people on a daily basis.
Malema has previously admitted that he had failed both grades eight and nine, but said this was because he could not contain his excitement about joining the Congress of South African Students. – Sapa