S.Africa's Zuma says ANC will not silence youth leader

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African President Jacob Zuma said the African National Congress would not silence the outspoken leader of the ruling party's youth wing despite his controversial policy demands and radical outbursts.

Zuma said in a newspaper interview published on Friday that Julius Malema, who has called for the nationalisation of South Africa's mines, did not have control over government policy.

Under Malema, the hardline youth league of the ANC is becoming a more significant political force after it helped Zuma become president in May last year.

Malema earlier this week led university students in a song -- popular during the fight against apartheid -- which called for white farmers to be killed, prompting the opposition Freedom Front Plus to lay criminal charges against him.

Malema's demand to bring the mines under state control alarmed investors who want to see South Africa pursuing business-friendly policies. Zuma has denied its is government policy to nationalise the mines.

In an interview with the Mail & Guardian, Zuma said ANC leaders spoke with Malema regularly and that "there's a leader in him for the future; a man who cares about people and who can take initiative".

"People want us to shout him down. Why must we do that? ... Even Madiba (former President Nelson Mandela), who is today an icon, was one of the most vocal youth league (leaders)," Zuma said.

The ANC youth wing has been vocal in pushing for leftist policy changes, including the nationalisation of mines in South Africa, the world's biggest platinum producer.

Earlier this week the league said it was losing confidence in Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan for not following party policy. Another leftist ANC ally, the COSATU trade union umbrella body, had criticised Gordhan's budget in February.