FORMER ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema has implied that he could take the ruling party to court should his expulsion not be reversed by delegates at the national elective conference in Mangaung.

Together with suspended ANCYL secretary Sindiso Magaqa and spokesman Floyd Shivambu, Malema has submitted a letter to the ANC conference requesting it to reverse the sanctions against them.

"We wrote this letter to the national conference as a platform that should deliberate and look into our disciplinary hearing before we explore other options to seek fair hearing and justice because, as loyal members, we are expected to exhaust all internal ANC processes before we explore any other different platform," the letter reads.

The trio's decision to write directly to the conference is an indication that they do not trust the current leadership of the ANCYL to raise the issue on their behalf. Earlier yesterday, acting ANCYL president Ronald Lamola expressed shock that the trio had submitted the letter and said that it meant the youth league delegation would no longer raise it at the conference.

The gathering is a conference of ANC branches and the highest decision-making body that has powers to reverse the sanctions against the trio. However, it looks unlikely that their request for reinstatement will succeed.

Shivambu said in a statement yesterday that they had it on good authority that the conference, through the secretary- general Gwede Mantashe and the steering committee, had received the letter. By late yesterday, the conference had not discussed their submission.

Malema was elected into the Limpopo provincial executive committee earlier this year but had to vacate his position following his expulsion from the party.