ANC youth leader 'a victim of white capitalist conspiracy'

South Africa's ruling ANC has said it will give its controversial Youth League leader and political powerbroker, Julius Malema, a chance to explain charges that he had a slush fund to pay for his lavish lifestyle.

Mr Malema's call to nationalise mines and seize white-owned land has unnerved investors but has also seen him gain ground among poor blacks, who make up the majority of the country and envision him as a future leader of Africa's most powerful economy.

"We will have to speak to Malema before discussing the issue in the media. We want him to explain," African National Congress party spokesman Jackson Mthembu said yesterday.

At a separate news conference held at ANC headquarters but not attended by Mr Malema, Youth League executives dismissed the allegations, saying the fund was used for charitable purposes. On Sunday, the City Press newspaper reported that Mr Malema had set up a trust fund in his son's name to collect bribes in exchange for helping people win government contracts.

Youth League executives said Mr Malema was a victim a conspiracy hatched by "white capitalists", "imperialists sucking the blood out of Africa" and those opposed to his plans to nationalise mines.

"The ANC Youth League is fully aware that all these allegations are an attempt to divert our attention from the issues we are raising, particularly on nationalisation of mines and expropriation of land without compensation," said the league's secretary- general, Sindiso Magaqa.

The ANC's biggest ally in the trade union movement, Cosatu, opposition parties and civil society groups have called on the ruling party to investigate Mr Malema's flamboyant lifestyle, which includes lavish parties and upmarket property.

Last year, at Cosatu's insistence, Mr Malema appeared before the ANC's senior leaders in a disciplinary hearing for bringing the ruling party into disrepute and defying its leadership. He escaped relatively unscathed, but the hearing put him at odds with president Jacob Zuma, whom he once said he would "kill" for.

Mr Malema, born into poverty, lists as a main source of income his salary as the head of the Youth League, which is a few thousand dollars a month. Civil society group Afriforum has laid a criminal charge against Mr Malema based on media allegations but police have yet to determine whether they will launch an investigation.

Mr Malema, 30, has no direct policymaking power in the ANC, but he is courted by those who do because of his ability to influence the masses of poor.