Julius Malema faces ANC expulsion threat

Fears outspoken South African youth leader could dent Jacob Zuma's presidential re-election bid after call for Botswana coup. A firebrand youth leader seen as a threat to Jacob Zuma's hopes of re-election as South African president faces possible expulsion from the governing African National Congress (ANC). Julius Malema, arguably the most colourful and divisive figure in South African politics, was charged with bringing the ANC into disrepute after calling for the overthrow of the democratically-elected government of neighbouring Botswana. Analysts believe the public disciplinary measures could reflect a desire by Zuma and other party leaders to crush the youth league president, whose provocative outbursts on topics such as race relations and nationalisation of the mining industry are a thorn in their side. "Comrade Julius Malema has been charged with various violations of the ANC constitution, including bringing the ANC into disrepute through his utterances and statements on Botswana and sowing divisions in the ranks," the party said on Friday. "Comrade Malema will have an opportunity to defend himself against these charges in a properly convened hearing. He will be entitled to be represented by a member of the ANC whose membership is in good standing." Sources close to Malema, 30, said the charges took him by surprise and that senior ANC figures plan to push for his expulsion in two weeks. The ANC fined Malema 10,000 rand (£840) and ordered him to attend anger management classes last year after he was found guilty of undermining Zuma. A disciplinary committee further ruled that if he was found guilty of dividing the party again within two years, his membership would be suspended. The youth league announced three weeks ago plans to establish a "Botswana command team" to unite the opposition in that country against "the puppet regime" led by President Ian Khama. The statement caused international embarrassment and was swiftly condemned by the mother party. Malema issued a belated apology. This was the latest in a series of incendiary statements by the populist youth leader, who branded a BBC journalist "a bloody agent" and threw him out of a press conference, and insisted that white South Africans should be treated as "criminals" for stealing land from black people. He recently paid a R50,000 (£4,207) fine to People Opposing Women Abuse after being convicted of hate speech, and was taken to court for singing an apartheid-era protest song containing the words "shoot the Boer". Perhaps most damagingly, Malema is under growing pressure from revelations about his financial affairs. South African media have reported that a senior anti-corruption official plans an investigation into the awarding of government contracts to a firm linked to him. To date none of this has prevented Malema making waves in the ANC where, it is widely reported, he has powerful sponsors in a faction trying to block Zuma at a conference next year to elect the party's leaders. This week the South African Sunday Times reported that Zuma threw Malema out of a meeting demanding: "Who do you think you are, you think you are in charge of this country?" Makashule Gana, youth leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance, said: "It is a pity this urgency does not stretch to the multimillion-rand corruption allegations against Malema. These allegations have so far gone unchallenged, un-repudiated and un-investigated by the ANC leadership. We reiterate our call for the ANC to show it is serious about corruption by holding its cadres to account. The South African public care more about Malema's dubious enrichment than internal ANC factional battles." Fiona Forde, author of the unauthorised biography An Inconvenient Youth: Julius Malema And The "New" ANC, said a showdown became inevitable after Malema's re-election as youth league president this year. "This is a 30-year-old who has been redefining South African politics and is part of a 100-year-old movement," she said. "The ANC should have acted a long time ago but they waited and stood by and did nothing. I think they were hoping Malema would not be re-elected for a second term. He was re-elected and the first thing he did was talk about Botswana. It was the straw that broke the camel's back. He's spoken out of turn and done more serious things in the past and nothing happened. Now they are looking for a way to nail him." The move should be seen in the context of the threat posed by Malema to Zuma's ambition to retain power, Forde added. "It's about December 2012 when the party goes to the next leadership conference and Zuma knows he has to control Malema if he is to comfortably secure himself a second term." Aubrey Matshiqi, research fellow at the Helen Suzman foundation, said: "There's growing pressure externally and internally on the ANC to act against Julius Malema. The question is whether this stand is going to unite or divide the party. "We must remember that Malema is already on a suspended sentence. If he is found guilty, his membership will be suspended. On the other hand, if he decides to mobilise against this decision, he faces the possibility of expulsion."