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INLSA<\/p>\n
Julius Malema<\/p>\n
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Michelle Pietersen and Leanne Jansen <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
WHILE Julius Malema\u2019s hold on power appears to be unravelling fast as a bitter succession battle rages, the ANC Youth League leader set out to win the hearts of minority communities in Pietermaritzburg last night. <\/p>\n
Following a meeting with members of the SA Minority Rights Equality Movement, not only was consensus reached on withdrawing criminal charges they had laid against him for the use of a racial slur, the movement also found in Malema a sympathetic ear. <\/p>\n
Having felt that a phone conversation with the movement\u2019s leadership would not suffice, Malema made the trip to personally bury the hatchet. This was after the league had apologised for the slur in October. <\/p>\n
Malema, accompanied by league spokesman Floyd Shivambu, was quickly ushered into a building in Chief Albert Luthuli Street (Commercial Road), while a large media contingent waited outside. <\/p>\n
When he emerged, Malema answered a few questions before being shepherded into his Mercedes-Benz. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are all Africans,\u201d he said, acknowledging that Indians had been an \u201cimportant constituency in our struggle\u201d. <\/p>\n
The youth league is due to respond today to the heavy blow it received from the ANC\u2019s national disciplinary committee last week. <\/p>\n
Malema is said to be in a state of paranoia, while his lieutenant, Shivambu, is said to be intensifying divisions by secretly campaigning for his preferred leader \u2013 deputy president Ronald Lamola \u2013 to take over when Malema\u2019s reign ends. Many league members and leaders feel this will happen sooner rather than later. <\/p>\n
\u201cJulius is vulnerable and doesn\u2019t know who to trust,\u201d said one ANC source. <\/p>\n
Sharp divisions were exposed when the ANC announced that the entire league leadership was guilty of contravening the party\u2019s constitution. The announcement that Malema was suspended for five years and Shivambu for three years sparked a frenzy among youth leaders, who moved to secure their positions in the event Malema\u2019s appeal fails. <\/p>\n
While the league was expected to show a united front when it officially announces its fight-back campaign, the young lions were not all convinced Malema was worth the fight. Following its emergency national executive meeting at the weekend, the league will publicly rally behind Malema. <\/p>\n
But some have privately said Malema and his co-accused should not appeal, and that Malema should be \u201csacrificed\u201d for the sake of the organisation. <\/p>\n
One national executive meeting member said Malema\u2019s attempt to save his political skin was a \u201cdead horse giving its last kick\u201d. <\/p>\n
It appeared that Lamola and league treasurer Pule Mabe would face off for the top job. <\/p>\n
Shivambu, ANC insiders have said, was campaigning against Mabe to propel Lamola to the top. <\/p>\n
Shivambu\u2019s ambition to become league secretary-general was foiled earlier this year when delegates elected Sindiso Magaqa instead. <\/p>\n
Magaqa was sanctioned by the ANC\u2019s national disciplinary committee for disparaging remarks he made about Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba, and was supposed to publicly apologise to the minister within five days of the ruling. But this has not happened because he intends to appeal. <\/p>\n
Shivambu\u2019s campaign against Mabe, a youth league source said, involved casting aspersions on his integrity in the media and portraying him in the eyes of the branches \u2013 who, in the event that the fight comes down to a special elective conference, will hold the key to the league throne \u2013 as \u201cpower-hungry\u201d. <\/p>\n
But an ANC source said Lamola was a double agent who pretended to support Malema, and by extension pretended that he was against President Jacob Zuma, while he was known in his home province of Mpumalanga to be backing Zuma for a second term. However, Lamola said he was a national leader and did not play on provincial political fields. He laughed off suggestions that he was a double agent. <\/p>\n
Mabe is seen by most members as Malema\u2019s logical replacement because of his political seniority over Lamola. Yesterday, Lamola said there was no secret campaign to position himself as heir-apparent. <\/p>\n
However, the youth league\u2019s constitution dictates that, as deputy, he will act in the position of youth leader if the leader is unable to do so. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
INLSA Julius Malema Michelle Pietersen and Leanne Jansen WHILE Julius Malema\u2019s hold on power appears to be unravelling fast as a bitter succession battle rages, the ANC Youth League leader set out to win the hearts of minority communities in Pietermaritzburg last night. Following a meeting with members of the SA Minority Rights Equality Movement, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[29,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-5420","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban-2","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5420\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}