The ANC Youth League denied a newspaper report on Tuesday that its leader Julius Malema had openly criticised President Jacob Zuma, a move that could land him in hot water with the ruling party.
But the Star said it stood by its story, which quoted Malema as saying at a weekend conference in Tzaneen, Limpopo, referring to the situation in Libya: “South Africa voted in favour of imperialists, and we cannot smile about that.
“The ANC of Nelson Mandela would never have voted for the killing of fellow Africans imposed by our former masters.
“Since he got into power, comrade Zuma has been surrounded by bad advisers. I’m dismayed and shocked at the way our country makes its decisions. How can they vote for the interests of the UN and the United States of America, a country which clearly wants control over oil reserves?” the paper quoted Malema as saying.
ANC Youth League spokesperson Floyd Shivambu said on Tuesday morning that Malema had criticised the government’s move for supporting a United Nations no-fly zone resolution in Libya, where leader Muammar Gaddafi’s rule is under attack.
‘We don’t act on rumours’
He said however that Malema had not attacked Zuma.
“He [Malema] never said that. He never said anything about all those things,” Shivambu told the South African Press Association (Sapa), claiming the Star reporter was not at the conference.
But the daily said three journalists had worked on the story and one of them had attended the conference and had made notes of Malema’s comments.
The ANC questioned on Tuesday why it should take disciplinary action against Malema based on “rumours”.
“Why would we be taking disciplinary action on the basis of allegations that are made? We don’t act on rumours,” ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu told Sapa.
“All we are saying is, even if we were to take disciplinary action, we won’t tell you,” added Mthembu.
Leadership ‘under threat’
Meanwhile, the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) said last week Malema was giving the youth movement a bad name and indicated it would not support him for a second term.
“We are not supporting Julius Malema for a second term because the character of the Youth League is under threat under his leadership,” said Bongani Mani on March 24.
Mani said Cosas would rather support the league’s Gauteng chairperson Lebogang Maile, who is also provincial minister for sport, culture, arts and recreation.
He said issues which concerned the youth — such as education — were being ignored.
“They are fighting among themselves and coming to meetings heavily armed, so we don’t have confidence in him,” said Mani.
“He is the one that insults the leadership of the ANC and insults the alliance component. The youth league is the youth league of the ANC and [if he has a problem] he must go straight to the ANC.”
Mani says the whole of Cosas felt this way.
“It’s an official position. We report all these problems to the youth league … but there is no action that has been taken.”
Responding to the criticism, Shivambu responded said Cosas was being used as a lobbying platform for individuals who did not have support within the league.
“Someone is using Cosas to lobby for themselves. Cosas is being used by certain individuals,” he said. – Sapa