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<\/a><\/p>\n8 December 2011<\/p>\n
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With his appeal against his suspension only days away, African National Congress (ANC) youth leader Julius Malema is increasing the possibility of permanent expulsion.<\/p>\n
Malema, his five most senior officials in the ANC Youth League and league spokesperson Floyd Shivambu were found guilty by the ANC National Disciplinary Committee (NDC) on 10 November 2011 and suspended (see Vol 29 No 27).<\/p>\n
Within hours of his suspension, Malema triggered investigation into additional charges for referring to “the enemy” within the ANC. Now an investigation into a second set of additional charges is underway – over an apparently fraudulent attempt to redraft the youth league constitution to bolster Malema’s defence. If the ANC decides to bring these charges, other leading figures in the league will join Malema in the dock. These will include youth league secretary general Sindiso Magaqa.<\/p>\n
Malema’s appeal against the finding and suspension has been set down for two days before the National Disciplinary Committee of Appeal (NDCA), either 22-23 December 2011 or 27-28 December 2011. Predictably, in a disciplinary process the youth league has attempted to drag out well beyond the normal ANC disciplinary timeframe, two of Malema’s legal team, high court Dali Mpofu and Patrick Mtshaolana, have indicated they are not available. Youth league national executive member and Limpopo provincial government housing official Clifford Motsepe is expected to represent Malema.<\/p>\n
The NDCA that will hear the appeal is headed by business executive and ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) member Cyril Ramaphosa, and includes Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel (also on the NEC), head of the ANC’s monitoring and evaluation unit Jessie Duarte (also NEC), and former Justice Minister Bridget Mabandla.<\/p>\n
The possible new charges against Malema and several of his colleagues flow from their claims that the NDC had based its guilty decisions on an old version of the youth league constitution. They maintain the constitution was amended at the league’s June 2011 elective conference (see Vol 29 No 28) and that it requires league sanction of any decision by an ANC disciplinary committee. Magaqa was particularly vocal in insisting the amended constitution, loaded on to the youth league website only after the NDC decision, would ensure reversal of the NDC decision.<\/p>\n
Significantly, following an angry chorus of denials by delegates that the constitution had been amended, papers submitted to the NDCA make no reference to the supposed amendment. There is strong circumstantial evidence that the amendment was manufactured ex post facto in a desparate attempt to bolster Malema’s prospects of appealing against his suspension. His allies described it as the silver bullet to shoot down charges against him.<\/p>\n
The ANC takes abuse of its constitution extremely seriously, regarding it as fraud. It will be fairly simple matter to establish whether or not the constitution was properly amended in June. If not, those responsible for loading the “amended” constitution to the youth league’s website can expect to be charged. And on fraud or similar charges, the possibility of expulsion is strong.<\/p>\n
It is already clear that no amendment was made to the constitution in June. Even if it had been, there is little prospect of it surviving organisational or judicial review. The supposed amendment would allow youth league structures to override or veto decisions by the ANC – recognised in both organisations’ constitutions as the parent body, from which the youth league derives its existence.<\/p>\n
The NDCA is expected to endorse the NDC’s closely-argued, cautious finding. As reported, it is expected to hand down judgment before the ANC’s 100th anniversary on 8 January 2012 – and probably before year-end. This will reduce Malema to a side-show at the 100th anniversary and an uncomfortable memory at the scheduled December 2012 elective conference – intended by Malema as the venue for his triumphant defeat of Zuma.<\/p>\n
If, as currently seems probable, Malema loses the appeal, his suspension as an ANC member takes immediate effect. He directly vacates his position as youth league president and forfeits both his youth league membership and his ex officio membership of the ANC NEC and the ANC national working committee.<\/p>\n
Malema has already toned down the rhetoric on his much vaunted “fight back”. But his political base continues to crumble (see Vol 29 No 28) as the politically ambitious sense he is a spent force. The latest defections came in the Western Cape at the weekend (3-4 December 2011), where internal wrangling derailed the league’s scheduled provincial elective conference. Malema spent the weekend holed up in a nearby hotel, vainly awaiting an opportunity to address his supporters. The league’s Mpumalanga provincial executive has collapsed and the KwaZulu-Natal provincial executive has been disbanded. The Eastern Cape looks set for a similar collapse.<\/p>\n
The implosion in the league is likely to see the few youth league leaders who survive the next round of disciplinary charges having to cede power and control to the ANC, or stepping aside entirely to allow the ANC to manage to increasingly chaotic affairs of the league. The ANC would prefer the former option, but the damage inflicted by Malema’s desparate manoeuvres to survive may not allow for that.<\/p>\n
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