JOHANNESBURG Dec 18 (Reuters) – Firebrand party rebel
Julius Malema mocked South African President Jacob Zuma at a
provincial conference this weekend, local media said, in the
latest sign of a growing power struggle within the ruling ANC
ahead of its leadership election next year.
Malema, currently appealing a five-year suspension from the
ANC, led supporters at a conference on Saturday in singing “The
shower man is giving us a hard time”, the Sunday Times said.
The paper showed a photograph of a beret-clad Malema cupping
his hand over his head to imitate a shower. The reference was to
Zuma’s admission in a 2006 rape trial – in which he was
acquitted – that he did not use a condom during sex with a woman
he knew to be HIV-positive, but took a shower afterwards in the
hope of reducing the risk of infection.
Malema was attending an ANC conference in his home province
of Limpopo, where he still commands wide support.
The ANC last month expelled the 30-year-old leader of its
powerful youth wing for five years for dividing the party and
bringing it into disrepute.
Malema has called for the nationalisation of mines and
banks, the seizure of white-owned land, and the overthow of
neighbouring Botswana’s democratically elected government. His
suspension should help pave the way for Zuma to secure a second
term as ANC leader, and hence as South African president, at a
party conference next year.
But Malema’s appearance at the weekend sent a different
message from comments last month in which he said he was
“finished politically” and had decided to go into cattle
farming.
At the conference on Sunday, a key Malema ally scored a
major win when he was re-elected as head of the Limpopo ANC. The
South African Press Association reported that Casel Mathale
fended off a challenge from Deputy Arts and Culture Minister Joe
Phaahla, a Zuma supporter.
Zuma’s government this month took direct control of parts of
several provincial administrations, including Limpopo, in a
clampdown on profligate spending.
Pretoria assumed authority over nearly every area of
administration in the troubled northern province after it asked
for a 1 billion rand ($118 million) overdraft to pay civil
servants’ salaries.
Limpopo has been plagued by allegations of mismanagement and
corruption, especially in the award of government contracts.
($1 = 8.4376 South African rand)
(Reporting by David Dolan, Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
