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*ANC turmoil* /Malema 'charges' shambles exposes a party in disarray/ *Karima Brown, Business Day, 21 April 2010** *THE African National Congress (ANC) is plagued by serious divisions that could prevent the party's political centre --- and that of the tripartite alliance --- from holding. This much is obvious from the way it is handling the disciplinary process against ANC Youth League president Julius Malema. The party's top officials are sending confusing messages and seem far from united over whether Malema should be sanctioned at all.
The party insists the disciplinary process is intact, after reports that President Jacob Zuma had capitulated to Malema on Monday night and agreed to drop the charges.
However, judging by the behaviour of ANC deputy secretary-general Thandi Modise, flanked by youth league secretary- general Vuyiswa Tulelo and the league's spin doctor, Floyd Shivambu, at a press briefing yesterday, Malema could walk away with a slap on the wrist.
Several factors suggest that without serious political will to discipline Malema, the process could become a farce.
First, Modise claimed senior ANC officials had met the youth league on Monday and heard its request that the charges be dropped and that they were "considering" this. These officials, including Zuma, are essentially the ANC's top six .
But according to party rules, dropping the charges isn't their job. How these officials can do this while the disciplinary process, to be chaired by Deputy Science and Technology Minister Derek Hanekom , is meant to make a "determination" on whether Malema has a case to answer, demands an explanation.
Modise also told the media that the ANC officials at the meeting on Monday had heard Malema's explanation of several matters that had irritated the ANC's leadership, and they were now satisfied, firstly, that he was not flouting party positions on Zimbabwe, and secondly, that his comments has been made in his capacity as youth league president.
Does this suggest the ANC believes Malema cannot be held accountable as an individual leader? If so, it takes the concept of "collective leadership" to another level.
It also, crucially, defies logic that Zuma (who was one of the "officials" at Monday's meeting) could accept that while the youth league remains an "auxiliary" of the ANC, it can simply violate ANC and government positions on foreign policy with impunity.
ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe 's apparent comment during Monday's meeting --- that red-carding a team member would not amount to the entire team being sent off --- has, it seems, fallen on deaf ears.
Modise's comments yesterday make nonsense of Zuma's promise nearly two weeks ago that there would be "consequences" for those who "crossed the line" in the ANC.
While Modise was quick to say yesterday that Zuma "was not made" by the youth league and was a leader in his own right, his apparent acceptance on Monday of the league's argument suggests his appetite for tough action against Malema has waned.
Modise's position reflected a very different picture from the confident figure Zuma cut when he told the nation that there would be consequences for anyone who crossed the line, after Malema taunted the ANC with his enthusiastic support for Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe and his criticism of the Movement for Democratic Change.
While the ANC insists that its disciplinary process is an internal one, the Malema matter has exposed serious fissures. Party figures have gone back into whispering mode, with many afraid to speak on the record, which fuels an atmosphere of mistrust and division. The inner workings of the ANC remain opaque. In the past two months, the ANC has had to issue statements distancing itself from its own spokesmen. Yesterday it did it again with party functionary Ishmael Mnisi, after a report in the Sowetan quoted Mnisi as saying Malema would no longer be facing charges of bringing the ANC into disrepute.
"The ANC would like to distance itself from the Sowetan article that ... Malema is 'off the hook' and that 'there are no charges' against Malema'," the ANC said. Mnisi was "misquoted", ANC spin doctors claimed.
But a comment by Modise yesterday in response to a question about who initiated the disciplinary process against Malema, is another sign of the tension in the movement's upper echelons. She said: "The supreme administrator in the ANC is the secretary-general. But I don't want to put it like that, because then we have two protagonists, and I don't want that. It's the ANC."
While who brought the charges should be immaterial in the larger scheme of things, in a divided ANC it is painfully significant.
Moreover, Modise's statement yesterday that charges against Malema were yet to be formulated added to the confusion.
It was already understood that Malema had received a letter from ANC secretary- general Gwede Mantashe last week telling him that his behaviour on April 8 had been viewed as "a serious transgression" and had "crossed the line" which required "not only political discussion".
Malema was reportedly given this letter with attached charges and told that a copy has been given to the party's national disciplinary committee for "discussion and processing".
The charges to be determined by the disciplinary committee include bringing the ANC into disrepute and defying the leadership. Malema was told that the committee would communicate directly with him for logistical purposes.
What remains unclear is the status of the charges, especially considering that the ANC also insisted that "no charges were dropped" following Monday's meeting.
If one accepts that Mantashe, as secretary- general, is within his rights to initiate such action on behalf of the ANC, how does one explain Modise's concern about the perceptions that Mantashe was driving the disciplinary process in the Malema matter?
The answer lies in part with the youth league's stated campaign to remove Mantashe and have him replaced by Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula. The league is on record that it regards Mantashe as "conflicted" since he is also chairman of the ANC's ally, the South African Communist Party.
While some insiders insist that the top six officials are united on action against Malema, others suggest not all of them even knew about Mantashe's letter to Malema.
Aubrey Matshiqi, a senior political analyst at the Centre for Policy Studies, says the inability of the ruling party to take an unambiguous stance on Malema's disciplinary process suggests Zuma's offensive against Malema does not enjoy support in the leadership structures of the ANC.
"There have been statements made to the media by ANC leaders on and off the record which suggest that Zuma's moral and political authority has been compromised to some extent," Matshiqi says.
Some have concluded that Malema appears to have won this round in his battle with Zuma, especially considering that the senior officials have indicated that they could well decide to suspend proceedings.
What is certain, though, is that there is a significant realignment of forces under way within both the Zuma coalition and the ruling party as a whole. But Matshiqi adds a caveat. "While it is clear that Zuma is not as strong as he was, it would be a mistake to write him off so early in what is clearly going to be a long drawn-out battle."
* Brown is political editor. *From: http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=106791* -- 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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