ANC Youth League president Julius Malema made a nippy about-turn in his eye-for-an-eye fight with the communists at the weekend, invoking the Portuguese proverb "better a red face than a black heart".

ANC Youth League president Julius Malema made a nippy about-turn in his eye-for-an-eye fight with the communists at the weekend, invoking the Portuguese proverb "better a red face than a black heart".

Booed and left red-faced by SA Communist Party delegates who taunted him at their congress in Polokwane recently, Malema left the meeting with a black heart when denied the opportunity to address the indaba so he could take on his adversaries.

Now the ANCYL leader seems surprisingly to have overcome his anger over his foul treatment by the Reds.

Addressing a Mkhonto we Sizwe military Veterans Association seminar at the weekend, Malema said nothing could divorce the ANC from the SACP.

True. Better to face up to one's embarrassment than to harbour bitterness, is the free lesson from the Portuguese proverb for Malema.