S. Africa's Ruling ANC Expels Controversial Youth Leader

South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) party has expelled its controversial youth leader Julius Malema on Wednesday after an internal disciplinary committee found him guilty of fomenting divisions and bringing the party into disrepute.

"In respect of the present disciplinary hearing, Comrade Julius Malema is expelled from the ANC," the party's internal disciplinary committee said in a statement late on Wednesday.

The ANC youth leader was accused of "sowing divisions" in the party and bringing it to disrepute by calling for the overthrow of Botswana President Ian Khama, and describing Botswana as a security threat to Africa and a "puppet" of the United States.

Malema now has 14 days to appeal the disciplinary committee's ruling. His youth league is yet to comment on the expulsion. Nevertheless, Malema had said in the past that he would appeal against his possible expulsion from the ANC.

Malema was suspended from the ANC for five years by the disciplinary committee in November after finding him guilty of three charges, including criticizing party leader and South African President Jacob Zuma. Although Zuma and Malema were close allies earlier, the ANC youth leader has now become a fierce critic of Zuma.

Malema's repeated calls for the Zimbabwe-style nationalization of mines and white-owned land may have offended ANC leaders and the business community, but have increased his support among South Africa's impoverished black communities.

Many in South Africa believed Malema would be a major threat to Zuma in his quest for a second presidential term if the youth leader maintained his party membership after the disciplinary committee hearing.

Malema, 30, has been a controversial but influential political figure ever since he became the President of the ANC Youth League in April 2008. He had earlier thrown a BBC journalist out of a press conference after calling him "a bloody agent" and said a woman who accused Zuma of raping her had a "nice time." Further, he had once called senior Communist Party official Jeremy Cronin a "white messiah," and described Opposition leader Helen Zille as both a "racist" and "colonialist."

The ANC youth leader was also taken to court last year for leading a group of college students in Johannesburg in singing the apartheid-era protest song "Shoot the boere, they are rapists." Although Boere means framers in Afrikaans, it is mostly used to describe the South African descendants of early Dutch settlers, who accuse Malema of inciting violence against whites.

Subsequently a court found Malema guilty of hate speech for singing the apartheid-era protest song. The judge also restrained the ANC, its Youth League or anyone in South Africa from singing the song in the future, stating that the lyrics of the song are now derogatory and poses a threat to race relations in South Africa.