Malema re-elected as head of SAfrican radical left

The controversial head of South Africa's far left Economic Freedom Fighters, Julius Malema, was re-elected unopposed as at a party congress in Johannesburg.

"For the position of president, it is Mister Julius Malema, may he please come forward," vote organiser Terry Tselane of the Institute of Election Management Services in Africa announced to some 3,000 delegates late on Saturday.

Malema, 38, formed the EFF in 2013 after he was thrown out of the ruling African National Congress, whose youth league he once led, following hate speech convictions.

Clad in his trademark red beret, Malema portrays himself as the defender of society's most disadvantaged. He backs radical wealth redistribution with the black majority still comprising the bulk of the poor a quarter century after apartheid ended.

His anti-capitalist rhetoric as well as his support for the seizure of white land without compensation has earned him several run-ins with the courts -- as well as his eviction from ANC ranks.

In ...