S.Africa’s Malema pleads to stay in ANC ‘family’

South Africas ANC youth rebel Julius Malema pleaded on Sunday for the ruling party not to expel him and made a rare public apology to the movements senior leadership which he has frequently criticised as too moderate in their policies. Malema, 31, confirmed he would appeal against the African National Congress (ANC) decision last month to expel him on charges of sowing divisions within its ranks, which he denies.Striking an unusually contrite figure in an interview broadcast on state TV, the suspended ANC Youth League leader insisted he had done nothing wrong by calling for nationalisation of mines and the seizure of white-owned land in South Africa, the worlds biggest producer of platinum.One of the ANCs most dramatic orators, his calls for a radical transformation of Africas biggest economy had resonated with poor blacks. He frequently mocked President Jacob Zuma.But in an interview on the State of Our Nation programme shown live by state broadcaster SABC, he asked to be allowed to stay on in the ANC, saying membership was my life and that he had joined the anti-apartheid movement at the age of nine.Please leave me with a card because the imagination of being outside the ANC is too scary. I love the ANC, I dont have anything except the ANC, he said.I want to apologise to the leadership of the ANC for anything they think Ive done wrong ... I did not do it deliberately, said Malema, wearing his traditional black beret and a yellow T-shirt bearing the portrait of anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela.He strongly rejected persistent media allegations that he had engaged in corruption by using his political position to influence the awarding of government tenders to his business cronies.