What will ANC do to Malema?

| Monday August 15, 2011 00:00

In the last two weeks the ANCYL leadership said they want to help the united opposition in Botswana to wrestle power from the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP). In fact ANCYL president, Julius Malema had indicated that they would set up a command centre in Botswana to help the opposition. Malema had further stated that Botswana is an imperialist state highly controlled by the Americans.

This is a deplorable statement no one expected to come from a pan-Africanist  organisation like the ANCYL. But the intervention by the ANC president should lay matters to rest.

Zuma told South Africa's City Press that the youth league's comments on Botswana were 'not in keeping with our policies, whether on a government or ANC level'.

There had always been doubt in some quarters as to whether the position of the ANCYL was representative of the mother body.

Botswana and South Africa have a long history of working together and it came as a shock to many that the ANC could publicly address the matter of regime change in this manner. The two countries have bilateral relations and this statement was bound to sour the relations.

Of course, the statement was welcomed by the opposition here who saw this as an opportunity to cooperate with an external force in fortifying their position in their bid to take power from the ruling party. Was it rational for the opposition to jump onto Malema's bandwagon, welcoming the ANCYL's help without first cross-checking with the ANC, the mother body?

Malema has made a name for himself as a loose canon when it comes to addressing issues that have far-reaching ramifications. The opposition could have learned from the Zimbabwe experience where Malema went and made a statement about that country only for the ANC to denounce his rantings.

The ANC is not happy that Malema went out of his way to make such utterances against Botswana. We now wait to see what the ANC top brass will do to Malema.