Julius Malema supporters clash with South Africa police Skip to main content

Julius Malema supporters clash with South Africa police


Related Stories

South African police have fired stun grenades at supporters of controversial ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema ahead of his disciplinary hearing.
Mr Malema, 30, is accused of "sowing divisions" in the party and bringing it into disrepute by calling for Botswana's government to be overthrown.
Once a close ally of President Jacob Zuma, the populist Mr Malema has become a fierce critic.
His supporters threw stones at police who were blocking them in Johannesburg.
The police have erected a steel gate and barbed wire to close the main street leading to Luthuli House, the African National Congress headquarters where the hearing is being held.
Hundreds of Mr Malema's supporters are outside, chanting and setting rubbish on fire.
Some set on fire a T-shirt emblazoned with President Zuma's face, while other chanted "Zuma must go".
Mr Malema, who is charged along with five other top youth league officials, could be expelled from the ANC at the closed-door hearing.
He was put on probation by the disciplinary committee last year after being found guilty of criticising Mr Zuma.
Mr Malema, under separate investigation for alleged fraud and corruption, says he will accept the committee's ruling.
"We are taking responsibility for our actions and we are prepared for anything. We have always maintained that the ANC is our future, if that future is expulsion so be it," he said.

Who is Julius Malema?

Julius Malema
  • Born 1981, joined ANC aged 9
  • Had military training in 1990s
  • 2008: Elected ANC Youth League leader
  • 2008: Vowed to "kill" for Jacob Zuma
  • 2009: Said woman who alleged she had been raped by Zuma had had a "nice time" - later disciplined
  • Called for mines to be nationalised and white-owned farms to be seized
  • 2010: Disciplined for undermining Zuma
  • 2011: Tried for singing "Shoot the Boer [White farmer]"
  • Called for the overthrow of Botswana's government
  • Criticised for lavish lifestyle
Correspondents say the youth league leader's calls to nationalise the mining sector and seize white-owned farm land have jarred with the party's leadership but have proved popular among his political base in impoverished black communities.
The BBC's Karen Allen described Mr Malema as a "kingmaker and political survivor", whose youth group brings the ANC a 350,000-strong block vote and influence over senior ANC leaders seeking promotion.
His disciplinary hearing sets the scene for next year's party leadership battle.
Mr Zuma's ambitions to secure a second term as ANC president could be enhanced if Mr Malema is pushed into the political wilderness, our correspondent says.
If, however, the maverick youth leader emerges with his ANC membership intact, President Zuma could face an uncertain future, she says.
The youth leader has long been a controversial figure.
He played a central role in helping Mr Zuma take control of the ANC from his predecessor Thabo Mbeki in 2008 and campaigned strongly for him in the 2009 elections, which brought Mr Zuma to power.
But on Monday, he said he did not have a personal relationship with the president, only an organisational one.
In May 2010, he was made to apologise publicly following a controversial trip to Zimbabwe where he declared the ANC's support for President Robert Mugabe at a time when Mr Zuma was mediating between the country's coalition members.
Mr Malema was also chastised by the ANC for expelling a BBC journalist from a press conference and defying party orders not to sing a racially divisive apartheid-era song, "Shoot the Boer [white farmer]".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14709570

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Chronology of the Press in Burma

1836 – 1846 * During this period the first English-language newspaper was launched under British-ruled Tenasserim, southern  Burma . The first ethnic Karen-language and Burmese-language newspapers also appear in this period.     March 3, 1836 —The first English-language newspaper,  The Maulmain Chronicle , appears in the city of Moulmein in British-ruled Tenasserim. The paper, first published by a British official named E.A. Blundell, continued up until the 1950s. September 1842 —Tavoy’s  Hsa-tu-gaw  (the  Morning Star ), a monthly publication in the Karen-language of  Sgaw ,  is established by the Baptist mission. It is the first ethnic language newspaper. Circulation reached about three hundred until its publication ceased in 1849. January 1843 —The Baptist mission publishes a monthly newspaper, the Christian  Dhamma  Thadinsa  (the  Religious Herald ), in Moulmein. Supposedly the first Burmese-language newspaper, it continued up until the first year of the second Angl

ARSA claims ambush on Myanmar security forces

Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on Sunday claimed responsibility for an ambush on Myanmar security forces that left several wounded in northern Rakhine state, the first attack in weeks in a region gutted by violence. Rakhine was plunged into turmoil last August, when a series of ARSA raids prompted a military backlash so brutal the UN says it likely amounts to ethnic cleansing of the Muslim Rohingya minority. The army campaign sent some 650,000 Rohingya fleeing for Bangladesh, where refugees have given harrowing accounts of rape, murder and arson at the hands of security forces and vigilantes. Myanmar's military, which tightly controls information about Rakhine, denies any abuses and insists the crackdown was a proportionate response to crush the "terrorist" threat. ARSA have launched few attacks in recent months.  But the army reported that "about ten" Rohingya terrorists ambushed a car with hand-made mines and gunfire on Friday morning

Thai penis whitening trend raises eyebrows

Image copyright LELUXHOSPITAL Image caption Authorities warn the procedure could be quite painful A supposed trend of penis whitening has captivated Thailand in recent days and left it asking if the country's beauty industry is taking things too far. Skin whitening is nothing new in many Asian countries, where darker skin is often associated with outdoor labour, therefore, being poorer. But even so, when a clip of a clinic's latest intriguing procedure was posted online, it quickly went viral. Thailand's health ministry has since issued a warning over the procedure. The BBC Thai service spoke to one patient who had undergone the treatment, who told them: "I wanted to feel more confident in my swimming briefs". The 30-year-old said his first session of several was two months ago, and he had since seen a definite change in the shade. 'What for?' The original Facebook post from the clinic offering the treatment, which uses lasers to break do