Malema warns ANC leadership
2010-08-27 22:37
Natasha Marrian and Hlengiwe Nhlabathi
Johannesburg - ANCYL president Julius Malema on Friday warned ANC leaders they could be removed at any time.
"You must be careful, you'll be on the streets if you don't respect the power of the masses," he told delegates.
"Sometimes power makes you drunk."
Leaders should not impress those in power, but rather strive to impress the masses on the ground.
He said leaders would come and go, but the ANC would remain, and that the league wanted to inherit an "intact" party.
"We are the future, we want to inherit the ANC which is intact."
'Jury still out on Zuma'
He then said the jury was still out on President Jacob Zuma's performance: "... You are just starting, baba (Zuma)." Permanent leaders or “old horses refusing to leave”, he added, were not welcome.
He lectured the league's leaders, saying it was a “privilege” to lead, not a right.
Malema told delegates that they must constitute over 70% of the ANC’s mid-term policy gathering in Durban.
The league was pushing for the nationalisation of mines and wants the ANC to elect younger leaders at its 2012 elective conference. It is backing Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula to replace ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe.
“You must be guaranteed that everything we discuss here will be adopted by the ANC," he said.
The three-day conference saw a motion of no confidence tabled against ANCYL deputy president Andile Lungisa. However, league members appeared to have extended an olive branch to him. As reporters were allowed back into the Midrand venue at the end of a closed session on Friday, they heard Malema telling delegates Lungisa had apologised.
Presidency
"Accept the deputy president's apology by saying 'yes'," Malema said.
"We must all love one another," he added.
Approached to explain Malema’s comments, ANCYL secretary general Vuyiswa Tulelo said it was an “internal matter” and declined to elaborate.
Asked whether Lungisa remained the league deputy president, she said: “I have not given you any other description, have I?”
Lungisa was set to challenge Malema for the league presidency in 2011. The battle has been playing out at provincial level, causing chaos at recent provincial conferences.
The ANCYL’s push for the nationalisation of the mines emanated from the freedom charter, which states “land shall be shared among those who work it”. Malema on Friday called for the country's land legislation to be amended as re-distribution was urgently needed.
"We are going to take land back... but we will compensate... that compensation will be determined by the state and not the owner."
He added that the ANC should not fear amending the Constitution, while assuring Western Cape Premier Helen Zille it would not do so.
"The ANC must not be afraid... and permanently assure ugly Helen Zille that it will not amend the Constitution," he said.
Claiming the willing buyer - willing seller principle wasn't working, Malema said one needed money to buy land, leading to it being owned by foreigners, because they had the money to do so.
- SAPA