ANC youth leader's hearing to proceed

South Africa's ruling African National Congress party has rejected a request from its Youth League leader, Julius Malema, to drop disciplinary charges against him, allowing a hearing to proceed that could derail the career of the populist firebrand.

Mr Malema, who has galvanised the country's poor black majority with calls for a state takeover of mines and white-owned farms, has been accused of sowing dissent in the party and bringing it into disrepute. The proceedings are seen as a showdown between Mr Malema and President Jacob Zuma.