Business Day
*Shivambu axing 'may cause strain'* *Wilson Johwa, Business Day, Johannesburg, 10 May 2010*AFRICAN National Congress Youth League spokesman Floyd Shivambu has been suspended by the Young Communist League in a move likely to escalate tension between the two rival organisations.
The suspension comes as Julius Malema, the controversial president of the ruling party's youth league, prepares to make a second appearance before an ANC disciplinary hearing tomorrow.
While the young communists and ANC youth have previously managed to contain differences, Shivambu's suspension is likely to fuel recriminations between the two bodies.
Shivambu was suspended with Stalin Buthane, also a Young Communist League national committee member, after an ordinary meeting of the league at the weekend.
The organisation refused yesterday to give details, saying these would be revealed once the two had been informed of the formal charges against them.
"It's only decent that we inform the said comrades first," national secretary Buti Manamela said.
His deputy, Khaye Nkwanyana, dismissed talk that Shivambu's suspension was due to behaviour arising from his role as ANC Youth League spokesman. "This has to do with internal processes of the Young Communist League; it has no link with his role in the national youth alliance," he said.
Insiders said Shivambu's suspension was due to his statements at its lekgotla in Pietermaritzburg in February. Shivambu allegedly called South African Communist Party deputy general secretary Jeremy Cronin a racist and alleged that the party made its decisions on the basis of conspiracies.
When pressed to apologise, he allegedly refused to withdraw his remarks, saying he preferred the chance to make a submission.
Three weeks ago the Young Communist League national working committee received Shivambu's submission in which he is alleged to have further implicated himself.
Delegates at the weekend meeting supported disciplinary action against him, sources said.
Yesterday Shivambu refused to comment. He insisted on knowing the source of the allegations. "If you talk to me like that don't ever call me again," he told Business Day.
Action against Shivambu may signal he has decided to side with the ANC Youth League, which is backing Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula against ANC secretary-general and SACP chairman Gwede Mantashe at the ANC's elective conference in 2012. Mantashe was also the complainant in the Malema hearing.
However, Manamela declined to entertain speculation yesterday, saying the Young Communist League intended to conduct a "respectable process" expected to be concluded within 21 days.
Like Malema, Shivambu has not been far from controversy recently. In March he was targeted by a group of political journalists who complained to the ANC over his alleged bullying behaviour when he threatened to leak a "dossier" with information about certain writers.
This came as he tried to deflect attention after a media exposé blew the cover on Malema's business empire, reportedly based on tenders to the tune of R140m awarded mainly by Limpopo municipalities.
The journalists under fire claimed Shivambu's action was "less about exposing unethical behaviour in the media, and had more to do with wanting to silence us with threats of public embarrassment over our private lives".
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