Victory for Zuma as ANC bans Julius Malema for five years

JULIUS MALEMA, the ANC’s populist youth wing leader, has been suspended from South Africa’s ruling party for five years.

The punishment is a victory for South African President Jacob Zuma. In a year’s time, the ANC will meet to hold a leadership election and Malema was the most prominent of those calling for Zuma to step aside. As part of his punishment, Malema must give up his leadership of the ANC Youth League.

The 30-year-old was found guilty on two main charges, according to the Cape Argus: sowing division in the ANC by comparing Zuma unfavourably with his predecessor as president, Thabo Mbeki, and bringing the party into disrepute by calling for the overthrow of the Botswana government.

Derek Hanekom, chair of the disciplinary committee, said: “Malema damaged the standing of the ANC and South Africa’s international reputation.”

Zuma must hope this is the last he has heard of Malema. As Mark Paterson reported for The Week in August when Malema’s case began, the youth leader has forged a reputation for himself as a “man of the people”. But his rhetoric, which tends to the confrontational, particularly on the issue of race, has made him a bogeyman for white South Africans – and even middle class blacks.

Malema will appeal, but observers don’t give much for his chances. Political commentator Justice Malala told Reuters:

"The principles enunciated are so watertight that it's going to be difficult to appeal. [The ruling] takes us back to the ANC of Nelson Mandela and that is where Julius Malema and his Youth League made a huge miscalculation. The ANC is bigger than them."

But not everybody thinks this is the end of Malema. The Sowetan observes that “the unexpectedly harsh sentence” could backfire for Zuma.     

They quote independent political analyst Nic Borain: “Will the sentence provoke a backlash, attempting to build opposition by portraying Malema as a victim? It is obviously a possibility.”     ·