The former Youth Leader’s expulsion was confirmed on Tuesday by after an appeal hearing.

The firebrand leader of the youth wing of the ruling African National Congress party in South Africa, Julius Malema on Tuesday April 24, 2012 lost his appeal against expulsion from the party, the BBC reported.

The appeals committee announced in a statement that Malema's appeal had failed. He was previously found guilty of fomenting divisions and bringing the party into disrepute and was banned from party activities after describing his former ally, President Jacob Zuma as a dictator.

According to The Sowetan newspaper of South Africa, Tuesday night’s decision also suspended the ANC Youth League Secretary General, Sindiso Magaqa and Floyd Shivambu, its spokesman. Both Magaqa and Shivambu have been part of the faction that defied the ANC's February 2012 decision to expel Malema from both the party and its Youth League.

The South African Press Agency, SAPA quoted the Congress of South African Trade Unions, COSATU Spokesman, Patrick Craven as saying the organisation accepts and respects the decision of the ANC Disciplinary Appeals Committee and did not think it was right to comment on it. He noted that each component of the COSATU alliance - of which ANC is part - has its own rules and procedures that must be respected. COSATU, the ANC and the South African Communist Party traditionally support each other on core development issues and usually form a united front ahead of elections.

Al-Jazeera Television reported that the expulsion effectively curtails the career of Malema, one of South Africa’s most high profile politicians whose calls for a major transformation of Africa's largest economy through nationalisation of white-owned firms, has been criticised by some party leaders. Aged 31, Malema was elected President of the ANC Youth League in 2008 and played a key role in President Jacob Zuma's ascent to power in the 2009 election. He is adored by supporters for articulating the concerns of South Africa’s black majority.