Maybe ANCYL’s public stunts will force their elders to get their house in order

The recent attacks by the president of the ANC Youth League Collen Malatji on ministers might just be a sign that the league is heading in the right direction by holding the elders of their party to account for the mess they have allowed this country to fall into.

Malatji recently demanded that President Cyril Ramaphosa give them departments such as trade and industry, public enterprises, transport, human settlements, basic education and higher education. This seems to be a call on Ramaphosa to axe the ministers of these portfolios as the youth league does not believe they are doing enough.

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Although it is too early to say whether the rant by Malatji was just to make the youth league relevant after Julius Malema’s days, it has certainly got the ANC elders irritated.

It is true that deployees of the ANC in government are not doing enough for this country to prosper and most of the government institutions seem to the crumbling under the incumbent ministers.

As ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said, perhaps the youth league might be the necessary irritation that is needed to at least make the ANC leaders take notice of the reality faced by South Africa.

Zama zamas are running riot in communities like Riverlea and Krugersdorp, to name but one. Residents in these areas have become prisoners in their own homes and the police seem to be losing the battle against zama zamas, while the minister of police continues to be guarded like a king.

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Businesses are closing down because of the issues which are faced by Eskom, resulting in families losing their livelihoods.

The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) is virtually nonexistent and, despite people overlooking it, this has caused a massive problem in communities, resulting in some even losing their jobs.

People used to commute as far as Vereeniging to Pretoria for work daily at a cost of not more than R20 for a single trip. However, most of them stopped working because they could not afford the taxi fare.

There used to be an flourishing economy on trains, where people would sell all sorts of things to feed their families – but with trains not moving on any line, everything has stopped.

ALSO READ: Mbalula defends Malatji, says ANCYL a ‘necessary irritation that must not be censored’

Service delivery is non-existent. In places like Alexandra, Tembisa and some parts of Soweto, sewage has run in the streets for years, forcing children to play in foul areas – but the government is nowhere to be found.

The lack of interest in the country’s borders has allowed illegal immigrants to come into the country and some run riot in communities like Diepsloot and Olievenhoutbosch. The South African youth have been making calls similar to those made by the youth league for several ministers to quit, but they have all fallen on deaf ears.

Maybe, just maybe, the youth league will be the necessary irritation we need to force their elders in ANC to get their house in order. Or maybe they themselves are just making these rants to put themselves in a position to be able to access resources and then abuse the power and resources they have been entrusted with.

ALSO READ: ‘Pravin Gordhan will sell everything – even South Africans’, says ANCYL president

Only time will tell whether the public stunts about their elders are a genuine concern, or just a means of gaining popularity.