ANC Youth League (ANCYL) president Julius Malema and the chaos surrounding his disciplinary hearing became a global trending topic on Twitter yesterday.
As violence broke out outside Luthuli House, South Africans took to Twitter to express their outrage at the behaviour of the youth league members or “young lions”. Journalists on the scene also kept the timelines going with live updates and images of the riot.
Malema, along with the league's deputy president, Ronald Lamola; spokesman, Floyd Shivambu; secretary general, Sindiso Magaqa; his deputy, Kenetswe Mosenogi;, and treasurer general, Pule Mabe, are all facing charges of bringing the ANC into disrepute and sowing divisions in the ANC.
The charges were brought against the league's leaders after Malema said the ANCYL would send a delegation to Botswana to consolidate the opposition parties and help bring about a regime change. Malema said at the time that the Botswana government was undermining the “African agenda”.
The hashtags #Malema, #ANCYL and #LuthuliHouse were all trending yesterday afternoon, as news updates, jokes and general disgust spread on the micro-blogging site.
Twitter tirade
The majority of tweets slammed the ANCYL and its leader. “#ANCYL you are a bunch of sheep,” said one tweet. “#ANCYL no age limit, just an IQ limit.”
Another Twitter user said: “If I was #Malema I would be worried about the size of the crowd and the calibre of my supporters #LuthuliHouse.”
Some expressed concern over the global image that was being portrayed of SA: “Seems that all these #ANCYL twits are doing is making us look like idiots the world over.”
The numerous parody Twitter accounts in Malema's name also climbed into the fray. The account with the most followers, @Julius_S_Malema, tweeted: “ANCYL members don't and won't burn flags or t-shirts with leaders' faces. The media & right-wing are potraying hooligans as our members” (sic).
In December last year, it was reported that the ANCYL was in talks with the owner of the Twitter account to officially hand it over to Malema. This is yet to be confirmed.
Lighter side
Despite the gravity of the situation, as police, journalists and shop owners were physically attacked by some of the rioters, some people on Twitter saw the funny side of the events.
“The Youth League are revolting, also they're rising up against their parent body. #malema”
“I'd gladly choose circumcision with a butter knife than to try & 'reason' with the #ancyl. Gwede, you're on your own, dude.”
Other tweets included: “Sorry DA, the new Official Opposition is now the #ANCYL.”
“It was ok when #ANCYL was disrespecting Mbeki #HowTheTablesHaveTurned.”
“When will someone pull a JFK on #Malema and get this over with?”
"We are prepared to die for Z̶u̶m̶a̶.̶ Malema. We're prepared to take up arms and kill ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶ Zuma."
Some tweets bordered on the extreme: “What happened to Bheki's shoot to kill? #malema”
“Those julius malema supporters. Such animals. How about the cops do good on their word n shoot to kill #springCleaning” (sic).
ANCYL vs social media
The ANCYL's relationship with social media has been highly strained, and at the end of last year, Malema's calls for the shutting down of Twitter made international headlines and was widely mocked.
The league has since had a change of heart, and became active on the social networking site earlier this year with its @ ancylhq account. Yesterday, the ANCYL tweeted: “The ANCYL strongly condemns and dissociates itself from the burning of ANC T-Shirts with the face of President Zuma.
“We reiterate our statement and call on those who are supporting the leadership to exercise maximum discipline.”
Speaking outside Luthuli House yesterday, Malema asked his supporters to exercise “some restraint”.
A decision to move the disciplinary hearing outside of the city centre has been overturned, and riot police have moved in to secure the area in order to avoid a repeat of yesterday's chaos.
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