JOHANNESBURG The youth wing of South Africas ANC yesterday insisted suspended Julius Malema continue as their leader, in open defiance of an order from the parent body.
Leaders of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) met in Johannesburg to discuss Malemas summary suspension after calling President Jacob Zuma a dictator, while his appeal against a permanent expulsion was still pending.
The NEC agreed that the ANC Youth League president should continue participating as a president of the ANC Youth League and perform all his functions as a president, because the decision to temporarily suspend has not been officially communicated to the ANCYL as a structure of the ANC, the body said in a statement.
Malema (31) on Thursday appealed his expulsion from the ruling ANC, which found him guilty of sowing divisions within the party.
