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The African National Congress Youth League has noted the remarks
attributed to Julius Malema reported in The Star newspaper, 28
November 2012.

These blood curling remarks are not worthy of any leader, let alone
one trusted by not only the youth but thousands of South Africans as
has been demonstrated time and again. Julius Malema should be ashamed
that he has failed to show leadership to the youth of South Africa by
constructively engaging issues of conflict he perceived. These reports
must indeed be a disappointment to the youth who look upon him as a
leader of young people of this country and beyond. Julius Malema’s
unfortunate action of resorting to public squabbling and accusations
is not befitting the stature with which young people regard our
organization, the African National Congress Youth League, and hence we
will rise to defend anything we view as an unwarranted attack against
it, its views and positions.

The Deputy President of the ANC Youth League, Comrade Lamola, is
attacked for saying that the ANC Youth League has no case to answer in
court and therefore will not be organising any rallies for or against
Julius. The African National Congress Youth League is an organization
far above any individual. It is a fact that the ANC Youth League is
not accused of money laundering in any court of law and the Deputy
President remains correct in distancing the organization from private
issues of individuals regardless of what position they may or may not
hold in the organization. The National Executive Committee has no
resolution to support individual members of the organization who are
appear before court in respect of their personal affairs, neither have
we sought to stop members who want to attend in support of Julius in
their personal capacity. The theory of the organization teaches us
there is an organization and there are individuals; they relate
dialectically, being interrelated and interdependent but independent
from each other.  It is when the movement abrogates upon itself
challenges that are not of its making but of individuals, that you
begin to build a cult of personality and find the organization
entwined in messes such as The Spear saga and many we have seen in
recent days.

We therefore call on all members and supporters of the ANC Youth
League to put aside any differences they may have in pursuit of a
broader and more important agenda. Our cause for Economic Freedom in
our Lifetime will not be derailed by petty, territorial squabbles
fuelled by the conflict-hungry media. The Deputy President of the ANC
Youth League, Comrade Ronald Lamola, shall continue to lead the
organization as constitutionally obligated and elected unopposed at
Congress to do so. The NEC as a collective has fought tirelessly for
the reinstatement of expelled and suspended comrades, including
Comrade Sindiso Magaqa. It is mischievous and disingenuous today to
seek to isolate Comrade Lamola and blame him for the failure of
comrades to listen to the advice of the collective. Even within the
NEC of the ANC, the ANCYL, represented by the Deputy President and
Deputy Secretary-General, defended these comrades who then themselves
decided to define themselves outside of the organization through the
Friends of the Youth League. Comrade Malema must not now allow himself
to play into the hands of those who are waiting in the sidelines,
patiently seeking an opportunity to be proven correct that he would
rule from the grave and would turn on the ANC when it got too cold
outside.

The ANC Youth League does not depend on the endorsement of any
individual to carry through the mandate the collective was handed by
branches at the 24th National Congress. The decision to call for
change led by Comrade Kgalema Motlanthe and Comrade Fikile Mbalula in
the ANC arises from considered deliberation by structures at all
levels of the organization having understood the immense challenges
facing us. This is a campaign of the ANC Youth League; we own it as
members of the League and members of the ANC. We have no doubt
therefore that our programme for this radical and fundamental change
underpinned by organizational renewal is safe in the hands of the ANC
Youth League led by the National Executive Committee with Comrade
Lamola at the helm. No one must ever seek to reduce decisions of the
organization to whims of individuals and it is an insult to the ANC
Youth League that anyone would claim that the organization can be
controlled based on the views and deals reached by any individual
member.

We send a cautionary warning to members of the organization and those
who still identify themselves with the organization that the campaign
for decisive change in Manguang is a campaign driven and championed by
young people everywhere with the hope of realizing a better future for
themselves. No one must stand on rooftops and seek to divide us or
derail this campaign for their own personal and selfish gains, narrow
upmanship games and to advance shaky political standing. Economic
Freedom in our Lifetime will be delivered by all of us, young and old,
united, fighting together side by side to realize the aspirations of
our people.