Charges have not yet been formulated against the ANC Youth League or its president Julius Malema, ANC deputy secretary general Thandi Modise said on Tuesday.
Malema came under fire from President Jacob Zuma earlier this month over his support for Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF and his controversial land-reform policies.
Zuma also rebuked Malema for continuing to sing apartheid-era songs that racially polarised South Africans and embarrassing the ruling party by throwing a foreign journalist out of a news conference.
Internal matter
At a media briefing at Luthuli House in Johannesburg on Tuesday morning, Modise said the “matter was on the table” and was being looked at internally by the party.
A disciplinary committee would investigate and decide whether charges would be brought against Malema, and if so, what charges.
“There is no way we are going to have any disciplinary hearing in public,” said Modise.
“Yes, we respect media freedom, but it is not absolute or supreme,” she added.
Modise said that in extreme cases the disciplinary committee could expel an ANC member from the organisation “but we have always tried to make it difficult for members to be expelled”.
This followed an official meeting on Monday during which the ANCYL made a submission on the charges against its president to the ANC’s top six officials.
Modise said the ANC had “preferred” charges against the youth league president, but added that issues of discipline in the party were not matters for public or media scrutiny.
Modise said the leadership of the ANC also took issue with Malema for remarking that former president Thabo Mbeki had never rebuked the youth league publicly when he disagreed with it, unlike President Jacob Zuma.
The ANCYL explained itself to the leadership on that matter and “clarified” the context of that statement.
Modise also said that Malema had apologised for verbally attacking and kicking a BBC reporter out of its media briefing,
Malema called BBC journalist Jonah Fisher a “bastard” and “bloody agent”.
Time frames for the disciplinary committee would only kick in once charges were formulated. – Sapa and M&G reporter