SA leader rebuked over 'Kill the Boer'

Julius Malema, the outspoken youth leader of South Africa's ruling ANC, will face a disciplinary hearing for bringing the party into disrepute, two weeks after being rebuked by the president, local media said.

The ANC Youth League president had been ordered by the ANC to cool his racially tinged rhetoric, and was criticised for ignoring official policy on Zimbabwe and publicly backing Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe.

He also embarrassed the party by throwing a foreign journalist out of a news conference and defied orders to stop singing songs that could add to racial tension. Malema has no policy-making role but has a loyal following within the youth league and among some black South Africans who feel the end of apartheid should have delivered more.

He has spooked investors for demanding nationalisation of mines. Newspapers said Mr Malema would soon be called before a disciplinary committee, chaired by the ANC's Derek Hanekom, who is a deputy-minister in the cabinet. ANC Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe had written to him detailing the charges that could lead to punishment ranging from a reprimand to expulsion.

Earlier this month, President Jacob Zuma slammed Mr Malema for acting in a manner that was "alien" to the culture of the ANC. The firebrand youth leader refused to stop singing an old anti-apartheid song, "Kill the Boer", that has been banned by the courts.