‘They must play with their grandchildren at home’: ANCYL in KZN calls for young people to lead ANC

With three months left until the ANC elects new leaders at its national conference, the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) in KwaZulu-Natal says it doesn’t want the party’s top six leaders to include people over the age of 60.

ANC national elective conference

The ANCYL in the province has called for a generational mix within the governing party’s leadership structures.

It wants ANC leaders above the age of 60 to relinquish power, saying they must go and “play with their grandchildren at home”.

“It has always been our view as the youth league that there must be [a] generational mix in the leadership of the ANC. Leaders of the ANC must not be selfish; people who are above the age of 65 or 60 years should think for themselves.

“They are old enough [and] they should be playing with their grandchildren at home and allow the new generation to take over,” said the ANCYL’s provincial spokesperson Sibonelo Nomvalo.

Nomvalo made the remarks on Friday, during a media briefing in Durban on the postponement of the ANCYL’s 10th provincial congress, which was meant to take place this month.

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‘Old Rigid people’

While the ANCYL appreciated the contributions made by the party’s veterans to South Africa’s democracy, Nomvalo said they were not ashamed of their stance that young people should be at the helm of the ANC’s leadership.

He said the electoral decline of the party and its many challenges could be attributed to its current crop of veteran leaders.

“The ANC is having many problems today because of rigid old people who do not want to relinquish power. Those people have amassed enough packages for themselves to retire from politics and stay at home and play with their grandchildren.”

Nomvalo said the top five national leadership – which includes the secretary-general, national chairperson and treasurer general – must be comprised of people who are below the age of 50.

“We want the top five that is going to be energetic, remain in society [and] we don’t want people who are going to be sleeping in Parliament.

“We are tired of those people who can’t even walk probably because of their age… If they love the ANC; they should groom young people and allow them to claim the space in the ANC,” he said.

This week, the governing party was meant to open its nomination process ahead of its 55th national elective conference in December.

READ MORE: ANC postpones nomination process for national leaders

But the nomination process was deferred due to outstanding issues related to its membership audit and branches.

Nomvalo said the youth league in KZN didn’t have any problems with the ANC postponing the nomination process.

He said they would wait for nominations to officially open before pronouncing on their preferred candidates to serve on the top six.  

“We are also members of the ANC [and] we will subject ourselves to processes of the ANC.”

Support for Zuma

Meanwhile, the ANCYL in province also said they were firmly behind former president Jacob Zuma as he faces trial due to the arms deal corruption case.

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This after the newly elected KZN provincial executive committee (PEC) visited Zuma last month at his Nkandla homestead and pledged their support for him.

“We are not ashamed of the decision and we do associate ourselves with the decision that has been taken by the newly elected PEC of the ANC in KZN to support comrade Jacob Zuma in his charges that he is faced with.

“President Zuma is the former president of the country [and] he is a member of the ANC. No court of law has convicted him and he deserves our moral support like any member of the ANC,” Nomvalo said.

Zuma ‘subjected to unfair treatment’

Nomvalo said Zuma contributed to the country’s democracy in the struggle against apartheid, claiming that the former president was being “subjected to unfair treatment” due to his age.

Zuma is 80 years-old.

“The man is old to be going to court on a day-to-day basis,” Nomvalo said.

“We are saying the ANC [in KZN] took the right decision and we support it, and when president Zuma appears in court; we’ll also going to go to court, unashamedly so, to support him,” he added.

Zuma is due back in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on 17 October 2022, for the resumption of his corruption trial.

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