Saturday Star
*Malema sticks to his guns in first appearance after self-imposed exile* *Sibusiso Ngalwa, Saturday Star, Johannesburg, 8 May 2010*ANC Youth League president Julius Malema has resurfaced from his self-imposed exile as defiant as ever, emphasising the league's autonomy and vowing never to be muzzled.
An emotional Malema went on to sing the controversial Ayesaba Amagwala song, which was found to be unconstitutional by the Johannesburg High Court.
But this time he sang a different version of the song, where he substituted the offensive "Dubul'ibhunu" (shoot the boer) with "Dubul'igwala" (shoot the coward).
Malema said that throughout history the league had enjoyed freedom to express its views, however controversial they were.
"When Nelson Mandela called for armed struggle, it was not policy of the ANC, and he was allowed space to raise why the ANC had to take armed struggle," he said.
"The leadership of the ANC did not seek to muzzle him and stop him from saying what he had to say.
"There are many things that were said and done by various leaders and generations of the ANC, but they were never silenced through threats of suspension and expulsion from the ANC. They were never an irritation to the leadership of the ANC."
Malema was addressing a Young Women's Assembly, organised by the youth league, at the Ingwenya Country Escape in Muldersdrift, west of Joburg, yesterday.
Malema - facing disciplinary action for alleged ill-discipline and bringing the ANC into disrepute - urged youth league members to defend the league's autonomy.
"We owe it to these generations to protect and defend the autonomy of the ANC Youth League. We owe it to Peter Mokaba to defend the autonomy of the ANC Youth League," he said, to applause from the crowd of about 100 youth league members.
On Monday, Malema made his first appearance before the ANC's disciplinary committee, headed by Deputy Science and Technology Minister Derek Hanekom. The hearing was postponed and he will appear again next week.
Meanwhile Malema, who recently returned from a "study trip" to Venezuela, reiterated the league's call for the nationalisation of South Africa's mines.
He also took a veiled swipe at President Jacob Zuma - without mentioning him by name - who assured the markets that nationalisation was not ANC policy when he went on a state visit to Britain in March.
"Other people can go around the world, even to the queen in Britain, to make assurances that mines will not be nationalised, yet the reality of the situation is that nationalisation of mines is currently on the agenda of the ANC and will be resolved by the national general council in September 2010 and national conference in December 2012."
Malema also took the opportunity to preach the youth league's message of "one girlfriend, one boyfriend".
He said: "As men we have a responsibility to ensure that the rights of women are protected, and find a correct balance between expressing our cultural rights and respect for women in South Africa.
"It can never be permanently correct that men are forever at liberty to have many sexual partners, when women are demonised for engaging in such practices.
"We must intensify our one-boyfriend, one-girlfriend campaign."Multisexual relationships should be discouraged, not only among the youth but among all South Africans, because the scourge of HIV/Aids impacts on all of us, irrespective of gender, culture and age."
Malema called on young women to be like those of 1956, who had "stood against repression... and exclusion" from the apartheid government.
Earlier, Malema sat through a session about a woman's anatomy, where he listened to a talk by a medical doctor about women's bodies and the changes they undergo.
He seemed uncomfortable - constantly keeping his eyes glued to a piece of paper in front of him and drinking water.
*From: http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5460847* * * -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] .
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