ANCYL to back Zuma in court

2008-07-24 16:30

Johannesburg - The African National Congress Youth League intends bringing an application for a stay of the prosecution of ANC President Jacob Zuma, it announced on Thursday.

It would intervene as an interested party should a similar application by Zuma fail, said ANCYL president Julius Malema in Johannesburg.

Under the banner of the Progressive Youth Alliance, the ANCYL and a number of other organisations have threatened to bring Pietermaritzburg to a standstill when Zuma was expected to go on trial in the High Court in August.

"We have concluded this issue is not a criminal case, it is a political case," Malema said at a briefing in Johannesburg.

"There should be a political intervention," he added, explaining that this was the action that the alliance would be undertaking.

He said it would go from street to street and door to door mobilising people in the run up to the trial.

The people who would ensure Zuma got a fair trial were "militant and radical" but "disciplined" members of the ANC, he said.

"You will see us in action. You will see what militance means.

"We are not going to tolerate any situation that undermines the president of the ANC," he said.

On August Zuma would apply for the corruption trial against him to be declared unconstitutional.

- SAPA