City Press
*ANC slams Tokyo**Carien du Plessis and Mandy Rossouw, City Press, Johannesburg, 13 November 2011*
ANC heavyweight and presidential hopeful Tokyo Sexwale has been chided by the ANC's national disciplinary committee (NDC) for his evidence in Julius Malema's disciplinary hearing.
City Press has obtained the full ruling that found the youth league leader guilty of misconduct.
The NDC slammed Sexwale's evidence, saying he made several "unsubstantiated statements" and relied on "hearsay".
The committee also "decried" the human settlements minister's "lack of knowledge" of the ANC constitution.
The NDC's criticism could harm Sexwale's standing in the ANC, as it exposes him as being ill-informed and acting on rumour rather than fact.
It could also badly dent his chances of being elected as one of the ruling party's top-six officials at next year's national conference in Mangaung.
"The NDC has noted that the overwhelming number of the arguments were unsubstantiated statements and decried comrade Tokyo's knowledge of the ANC constitution as an NEC member," reads the ruling.
The document further reveals the depth of the schism between Sexwale and President Jacob Zuma. In evidence, Sexwale implied Zuma was behind the charges against Malema.
According to the document, Sexwale said: "The disciplinary proceedings were being used to stifle debate and solve private problems because somebody was waiting for the earliest opportunity to institute disciplinary proceedings as soon as the respondent (Malema) said something wrong."
The NDC slam-dunked Sexwale on various parts of his testimony:
* Sexwale argued that when he raised the issue of the disciplinary
hearing at a meeting of the national executive committee (NEC),
he was ruled out of order. The NDC found the issue was never on
the NEC's agenda;
* Sexwale told the NDC the charges against Malema should have been
brought by the NEC and not the national officials, but conceded
under cross-examination the constitution does not back this up;
* Sexwale argued the formulation of the Botswana charge --
Malema's propagated regime change in the country -- was "moving
from the mundane to the ridiculous", a point the NDC declared as
"wrong". Sexwale said there was "a clear agenda behind the
charges" because the Botswana issue was resolved by the entire
youth league at its national congress;
* Sexwale claimed the hearing was used to settle political scores.
This argument was found to be invalid because Malema admitted to
making the statements he was charged for;
* Sexwale argued the NDC members were conflicted, but this was
rejected; and
* Sexwale argued the youth league is "more autonomous" than the
women's league or veterans' league because members of the youth
league don't need to be members of the ANC. This is contradicted
by the ANC constitution that compels youth league members to
become ANC members when they turn 18.
Sexwale testified that the ANC did give "money and vehicles" to the
opposition Botswana National Party -- a fact that was not disputed.
He also said he was commissioned to conduct a threat analysis after the US was considering establishing a military base in Botswana.
Sexwale yesterday declined to comment on the findings.ANC veteran Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was Malema's other high-profile witness. The NDC found that she was misled by Malema about the source of the charges.
The report further shows that Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe refused to testify for Malema. Youth league officials then asked the NDC to call Motlanthe as a witness, but the committee refused.
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