African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) president Julius Malema will meet King Goodwill Zwelithini on Friday to discuss "misperceptions" around the league's position on polygamy", it said in a statement.

Concerned that in spite of many interventions to halt the spread of HIV/Aids, the league is running a "One boyfriend-One girlfriend" campaign to achieve its resolution of stopping HIV/Aids infections by 2014.

Last Sunday, Malema raised the topic of monogamy at a rally in the Free State, recommending that a husband only has one wife, or that singles only have one partner.

The ANCYL then issued a statement on Monday, saying that the SABC had reported that Malema had criticised President Jacob Zuma, who is also betrothed in this ancient multipartner system with three wives. The league said that Malema had not mentioned Zuma at all in his address.

"In his address, the ANCYL president re-affirmed the ANC Youth League's policy of One Boyfriend-One Girlfriend, which is aimed at discoursing multi-sexual relationships amongst the youth. And because there are ANCYL members and youth in general who are married, the president encouraged those to stay with one [partner] so that they are not exposed to the dangers of multi-sexual relationships."

The SABC has denied referring to Zuma in the report.

Zwelithini, who has five wives and a fiancee from Swaziland who has borne him a child, and who hosted the massive ceremony known as the reed dance for virgins last weekend, was expected to meet Malema at 11am at the King's palace in Nongoma, northern KwaZulu-Natal.

According to the league this is to: "...Explain the ANCYL's one partner campaign and many other programmes the organisation is involved in, but also clarify the misperceptions that were spread around the Youth League's position on polygamy".

League spokesperson Magdalene Moonsamy said that their position on polygamy was one of respect for cultural practices.

"The status of polygamy is cultural, the ANCYL would never denounce any culture at all," she said.

"No way would we attack an issue of culture."

On Thursday, The Sowetan reported that Malema's comments had raised the ire of KwaZulu-Natal's Nazareth Baptist Church, who said that the church endorsed polygamy, which was mentioned in the Bible.

The other aspects of the league's anti-HIV/Aids campaign included promoting condom use and distribution, encouraging voluntary counselling and testing and enabling access to antiretrovirals.