JuJu looks beyond Maile
ANC Youth League president Julius Malema is upbeat about his re-election at the league's conference next week
Malema has also dismissed chances of his opponent, Gauteng ANCYL chairperson Lebogang Maile, securing required votes to wage a challenge.
The ANCYL is holding its elective congress at Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand, Johannesburg, starting next Thursday.
Without mentioning Maile by name, Malema warned him that it would be an uphill battle for him to secure votes at the conference and to translate provincial support to national support.
After failing to get nominated by provinces, Maile's campaign team is pinning its hopes on delegates to the conference to raise him from the floor and vote him into power.
"Voting is about numbers, you must get branches to elect you. We are not going to impose you on branches. If you have not been nominated by a province and seconded by two other provinces for you to qualify, then you must be raised from the floor.
"You must get 30percent of the 5500 delegates, which is almost 1800 votes. Where are you going to get that?" Malema rhetorically asked during a media briefing in Johannesburg yesterday.
Malema has received support from Limpopo, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and North West for a second term.
Maile's chances also appear slim to secure nomination from the remaining provinces - Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape, Free State, Northern Cape and Western Cape - which will hold their provincial general councils this weekend.
During the briefing, Malema also refuted claims that the league had invited former president Thabo Mbeki to the conference to spite President Jacob Zuma. "We have not invited Mbeki to our conference, there is no space for Mbeki. There is one president of the ANC and that is Zuma."
Malema also said the league would employ its own security to guard against people who were planning to cause anarchy at the conference.
Earlier this week, the ANC told the league to take responsibility that its conference would be conducted peacefully and to stop looking for "scapegoats" for disruptions.