Charges against Julius Malema that could see him removed as youth league president have set off an intense battle for control of the ANC that might be resolved only at next year’s Mangaung conference when leaders are elected.
The leadership of the ANC, spearheaded by its president Jacob Zuma and secretary general Gwede Mantashe, appears determined to rein in a youth league it perceives as out of control. It wants to stamp its authority on a league that has declared war on both Mantashe and Zuma.
League members are mounting a massive mobilisation campaign to take over ANC branches and influence the outcome of provincial party conferences and other important events, such as the policy conference.
On the uglier side some are planning to make life difficult for the two senior leaders by disrupting their meetings in the same way Zuma supporters booed former president Thabo Mbeki during the pre-Polokwane era.
Not even the ANC’s top six officials have escaped the divisive climate — they have maintained a façade of unity but are known to differ both over the charges against Malema and on leadership choices leading up to Mangaung.
Mantashe has remained firmly in charge despite agitation by the youth league, which faces an uphill battle to win support in the provinces to remove him and Zuma. It will also struggle in its battle without the backing of the leadership of Cosatu and the South African Communist Party, where Zuma enjoys majority support.
Mantashe took a hard line this week and said it was not enough for the youth league’s leadership to apologise for the chaos caused by its supporters in the Johannesburg CBD without taking responsibility for it.
He did not say whether charges would be laid against league members who organised the march. It is believed Luthuli House will investigate who paid for the buses that transported the protesters to Johannesburg.
After youth league members burned the ANC flag and attempted to storm Luthuli House this week, in protest against Malema’s disciplinary charges, the Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans’ Association (MKMVA) also decided to tackle the youth league head on. It announced it would convene an assembly of cadres on Saturday as part of its mobilisation against the anti-Zuma brigade.
Zuma for his part showed he was in charge — he persuaded the ANC’s national executive committee not to discuss the merits of the disciplinary case and to leave the matter to the national disciplinary committee led by Derek Hanekom.
Some of Malema’s supporters are resigned to his being censured and are worried that the next target could be ANC national organiser Fikile Mbalula, who they are punting to replace Mantashe at the Mangaung conference.
Last week the Mail & Guardian reported on Mbalula’s challenge to Zuma at a national executive committee meeting during which he reminded the party president that it was the youth league that had elevated him to power.
Mbalula’s confidants believe that what they call a “false” story in the New Age newspaper a week ago points to the beginning of a disinformation campaign against him.
The story alleged Mbalula’s department had booked a R60 000-a-day room at Sun City for Zuma’s presence at the 2011 South African Sports Awards ceremony, which the president did not attend.
They claim other, equally false stories have been offered to newspapers but have been rejected.
It appears the succession race will pit Mbalula against Mantashe.
The youth league also wants party deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe to challenge Zuma for the presidency, although so far the league has been frustrated in this — Motlanthe has apparently said he will not enter a leadership race that could be as damaging as that at Polokwane.
An ANC leader close to Mantashe said he had indicated that, if he were to be pitted against Zuma, he would not enter the race.
ANC leaders split over disciplinary hearing
Charging ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema has divided the ANC’s top six officials, the M&G has learned.
ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe and party president Jacob Zuma pushed hard for Malema and the other officials to be charged, but ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe, chairwoman Baleka Mbete, deputy secretary general Thandi Modise and treasurer general Mathews Phosa were less enthusiastic.
Hours before the ANC announced that it had charged Malema, Mbete told the national executive committee that the six officials were awaiting a report from Mantashe before deciding on the way forward. She was responding to Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, who asked ANC officials to clarify allegations that the ANC intended to charge Malema.
“Some of the officials were caught by surprise when they learned a few hours later that Malema was formally charged. For the sake of unity, they did not want to be seen [to be] differing from Zuma and Mantashe. They decided to own up to the decision as a collective even if they did not agree to the changes,” a senior ANC leader said.
An ANC insider sympathetic to Malema warned that, if the ANC’s top leadership did not learn to tolerate divergent views among ANC members, party structures could be paralysed. “We should at all times be tolerant of different views,” the insider said.
“The youth league is raising an important matter on economic transformation. Codesa attempted to do this but it was not enough. When the youth league raises these issues, why are people taking it personally instead of engaging the youth? We are engaging the youth with only the highest hysteria. We are failing to engage them on facts. We are creating heat where there is none.”
He claimed the charges against Malema were linked to the ANC’s 2012 leadership contest. “The whole thing is linked to Mangaung. To deny that would be childish. This is all about power —
“This is about those who see the future being limited. My fear is that the anger will evaporate into Mangaung in a worse manner than it did at the ANC’s Polokwane conference in 2007.”
He did not see anything wrong with Malema mobilising support for his appearance before the disciplinary committee. Zuma had done the same when he faced corruption and rape allegations.
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