ANC raps its Youth League over the knuckles

ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe has called on the ANC Youth League to retract its calls for Jacob Zuma to be the party's next president. Motlanthe, who was being interviewed on television, said the Youth League ought to be guided by the policies of the party. Motlanthe defended President Thabo Mbeki's statement that a woman should be the next president, saying he understood that Mbeki was merely referring to the gender policy of the ANC. Motlanthe added that the ANC would seek bilateral talks with its alliance partners, the SA Communist Party and the Congress of SA Trade Unions about criticisms they had expressed against the ANC.