Business Day
*'No hurry' to implement Malema's suspension* *Sam Mkokeli, Business Day, Johannesburg, 7 February 2012*THE African National Congress yesterday confirmed ANC Youth League president Julius Malema would be suspended from the party, but that the suspension had not taken immediate effect.
There was confusion at the weekend about whether his suspension would begin immediately, following an announcement that his appeal to overturn last year's convictions had not been successful.
"There should be no confusion," ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe told journalists yesterday. "We have decided to delay everything from kicking in until the processes are completed."
Mr Malema was given a suspended sentence in 2010, as part of a deal where he pleaded guilty on a charge of bringing the ANC into disrepute. His sentence was suspended on condition he did not commit a similar offence during the following two years.
He was found guilty on a similar charge last year and the conviction was upheld by an appeal committee last week, so Mr Malema's two-year suspension will kick in.
But Mr Mantashe said the ANC was not in a hurry to implement that suspension, as there were political considerations. "If we wanted to be legalistic, the 2010 suspension would have taken effect, but we will wait two weeks for the mitigation."
While Mr Malema failed to have his conviction on the charges overturned last week, he has been granted an opportunity to argue in mitigation of the sentence --- a chance he was not afforded before being given an effective five-year sentence by the party's disciplinary committee in November. That committee has two weeks to hear mitigating or aggravating evidence, before delivering its decision.
Mr Malema's impending suspension as the leader of the ANC Youth League --- because of the 2010 conviction --- will begin after the mitigation is done and a new sentence, for last year's conviction, is handed out. But that process is independent of the 2010 sentence, which is the ultimate destroyer of Mr Malema's political career.
The ANC disciplinary committee of appeals announced that it had dismissed appeals by Mr Malema, his spokesman Floyd Shivambu and four other youth league officials to overturn their suspensions. They were found guilty of bringing the ANC into disrepute and of sowing division in the party.
Mr Malema's home township of Seshego, in Polokwane, yesterday showed signs of the town's celebration of his failed disciplinary appeal. Tyre marks stretched across various streets, and T-shirts with Mr Malema's face printed on them lay scattered on the ground. The township echoed with the sounds of car hooters when it was announced that his appeal had failed.
Anti-Malema factions congregated at a local shopping centre and set fire to a T-shirt during the celebrations on Saturday. Mr Malema has become unpopular among youths in his township who accuse him of being a dictator and of sidelining those who opposed him.
A local resident said the decision was not her concern. "I have many responsibilities, I don't care what happened to him ... I have my own problems. I want to go back to school and I don't have money, if I cry for him what will I get?" she asked.
"They talk about economic freedom and nationalisation, but we're still struggling."
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