Apology was sincere - Malema

2010-08-26 20:09

Johannesburg - ANCYL president Julius Malema on Thursday said his apology to Young Communist League national secretary Buti Manamela, who was shouted down at the ANCYL's national general council, was sincere.

"We don't play with apologies. It's very difficult to get an apology from us," he told a media briefing at the league's council in Midrand.

Delegates on Wednesday shouted Manamela down as he tried to deliver a message of support from the YCL. The large crowd refused to listen to him and he eventually left.

Manamela has been quoted as saying the incident was planned and he did not believe Malema's apology, given shortly after the incident, was genuine.

"We are not being sarcastic about it (the apology), we mean it," Malema said.

"Nobody planned what happened... delegates were highly charged and agitated."

He added that relations had been strained with the SA Communist Party and the YCL - and that the YCL was "communicating badly" about many league issues, particularly at provincial level.

This may have been the reason delegates reacted harshly toward Manamela. The league and the SA Communist Party, the YCL's governing body, have been at loggerheads publicly since Malema was booed at an SACP conference in December last year.

- SAPA