May 1, 2010 9:45 PM | By MOIPONE MALEFANE
ANC Youth League president Julius Malema is expected to plead guilty to charges of bringing the ANC into disrepute when he appears before a party disciplinary committee tomorrow.
Malema will be represented at the hearing by the ANC's treasurer-general, Mathews Phosa. Malema and the ANC Youth League approached Phosa to help with Malema's defence strategy.
The ANC constitution allows a member facing disciplinary proceedings to be represented by another party member in good standing. Such a representative must have been a paid-up ANC member for at least three months.
Yesterday Phosa refused to comment, saying Malema's disciplinary hearing was an internal ANC matter.
It is, however, understood that Phosa advised Malema to plead guilty in order to avoid a harsh sentence which could include the suspension of his ANC membership.
Malema will face a hostile disciplinary panel consisting of the youth leader's political adversaries, and several leaders who have already publicly rebuked him for other controversial statements he has made.
The panel will be chaired by deputy minister of science and technology Derek Hanekom.
The panel includes minister of mining Susan Shabangu, who said Malema's plan for the nationalisation of the mines would never be implemented in her lifetime. Malema responded that she was "sucking up to monopoly capital".
Also on the panel is Collins Chabane, the minister of performance monitoring and evaluation, who hails from Malema's home province of Limpopo. Chabane is close to Lehlogonolo Masoga, Malema's political enemy in the province.
Zola Skweyiya, SA's high commissioner to the UK - who once said Malema's behaviour was unacceptable - will also sit on the panel, along with President Jacob Zuma's parliamentary counsellor, Ayanda Dlodlo, and SA's former ambassador to Poland, Febe Potgieter-Gqubule.
The disciplinary hearing will go ahead despite attempts by Malema's supporters in the ANC to have charges against him quashed.
Earlier this week, Malema's supporters again failed to convince the ANC's national working committee - which runs the party's day-to-day affairs - to drop charges against Malema.
The charge sheet cites as motivation that:
Malema brought the ANC and the government into disrepute with his remarks about Zimbabwean politics during his visit to that country. Malema endorsed the ruling Zanu-PF and attacked the rival Movement for Democratic Change, jeopardising Zuma's efforts to act as a neutral mediator.
On Friday, ANC national chairman Baleka Mbete visited Zimbabwe in an attempt to limit the political damage caused by Malema's trip.
Malema responded to a dressing down by Zuma - who called his remarks "alien" to the culture of the ANC - by saying that former president Thabo Mbeki had never rebuked the youth league in such a manner. Zuma's remarks had followed Malema's verbal abuse of a BBC journalist, who he called a "bastard" and a "bloody agent".
Malema said that slain AWB leader Eugene Terre Blanche had died before changing his racist behaviour.
A senior ANC leader who is close to Malema said the defence strategy was that Malema would plead guilty and allow the disciplinary panel to look at the merits of the case before it decided on a sentence.
"We are not expecting a harsh sentence, but will see," said the leader.
