The African National Congress (ANC) had fought in the struggle for the sort of lifestyle that ANC Youth League (ANCYL) president Julius Malema enjoyed, an ANCYL official said on Friday.

"He has a right, because these are the privileges and rights that we have fought for," ANCYL Western Cape spokesperson Ndoda Ngemntu told a media briefing in Cape Town.

"If the opportunity has come for one to prosper, why must we be jealous?"

What people should do instead was to seek to emulate the example that figures such as Malema had set for the future and the young people of South Africa, Ngemntu said.

Media have focused anew in recent weeks on Malema's assets, which include a R814 000 Mercedes-Benz, an apparently genuine R250 000 Breitling watch, and two homes worth a total of R4,6-million.

"We are not saying there is anything wrong with people accumulating wealth, because at the end of the day it is this ANC that fought for the distribution of wealth.

"It cannot be the situation we're in, [in which] only the few that benefits, only those that are not members of the ANC.

"If we are saying as the ANC we are creating a better life, members of the ANC must benefit from the better life."

He said it had been populist of Congress of South African Trade Union (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi to "jump up" this week and declare his earnings and assets.

Those who declared assets should also say what their wives earned, because some people used relatives as fronts for their own business interests.

Provincial league chairperson Siyazi Tyatyam said that the way Vavi had addressed the issue week was "very narrow".

"Because lifestyle is not about the salary. But it's how you live as a comrade.

"If you claim yourself to be a communist, if you claim to be the leader of the people... do you live with the people, are people able to engage and get you... as and when they need you?"

Tyatyam said that the current controversy over Malema's assets was a concerted attempt to silence the league on the issue of nationalisation of mines.