ANC COMMUNICATIONS ON THE DISCIPLINARY HEARING PROCEEDINGS:

The ANC Youth League is concerned that the ANC is publicly communicating the processes of the Disciplinary Hearing, contrary to what the Disciplinary Code of the ANC says. The ANC Youth League's understanding of the ANC Constitution's clause concerning public communication is that it can only be done once all processes have been finalised. The ANC Constitution clause 25.11 reads as follows, "The relevant Disciplinary Committee shall in writing report the outcome of each disciplinary proceeding to the secretary of the executive structure which established it and then the decision shall be publicly announced by the relevant Disciplinary Committee".

The ANC Youth League's honest understanding of this ANC Constitutional clause is that only the outcome of the process shall be publicly announced, not the process itself. This has informed how the ANC Youth League approached the process from the beginning. We are however concerned that the ANC publicly announces and communicates the process itself, and at times communicates what the NDC has not agreed or finalised, like the changes of venue, recusal applications, etc. The ANC Youth League will continue to abide by this principle and will at all times avoid the temptation of making public announcements and communication of the process.

The ANC Youth League will therefore not make any public statements and communication concerning internal DC processes because doing so is not in line with the ANC Constitution and rules. This is despite the reality that some of the issues publicly communicated do not reflect reality of what has transpired thus far. The judgment on quashing of charges released by the ANC does not reflect the true essence of the arguments tabled by the leadership of the ANC Youth League.

Instead, many issues that were not raised by our representatives are now contained in the ruling publicly released by the ANC NDC; in particular a claim in the ANC National Disciplinary Committee Statement that the complainant (ANC Youth League President Julius Malema) said the ANC Constitution is unconstitutional. ANC Youth League President Julius Malema refuted this claim in the NDC and no one has given any contrary information.

To resolve this concern, the ANC Youth League has now instructed its representatives to make an urgent application at the Disciplinary Hearing to stop all public communications, which are in breach on the ANC Constitution and to clarify the meaning of clause 25.11.

Statement issued by the ANC Youth League, September 2 2011

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