ANCYL task team given six months to hold elective conference

The newly formed ANC Youth League National Youth Task Team (NYTT) on Monday said the ANC had given it six months to hold a national conference to elect new leadership.

“As part of our terms of reference, the ANC has given this task team six months to deliver the conference,” said NYTT convener Nonceba Mhlauli, speaking at a media briefing at Luthuli House in Johannesburg.

The 34-member team, which includes Joy Maimela as coordinator, held its first meeting at the weekend in Ekurhuleni to map the way forward for a revitalised ANCYL.

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The youth task team was introduced last week after an interim NYTT led by ANC national executive committee (NEC) member Tandi Mahambehlala was let go following concern about the advanced age of its members.

The ANCYL has been in a state of paralysis since it was dissolved in 2019 by the mother body for failing to hold an elective conference. Some have even argued former ANCYL leader Julius Malema left the structure in disarray after his expulsion from the ANC in 2012.

State of the organisation

Mhlauli said the NYTT would over the next few weeks urgently assess the state of its organisation including its financial and legal standing ahead of convening the national elective conference. She said the NYTT would request an extension from the ANC should it miss the six-month deadline to go to conference.

“The ANCYL has been plagued with financial challenges since the gross financial mismanagement and grand scale looting of its assets by the former NEC which was disbanded in 2013,” Mhlauli said.

She said the NYTT would develop a comprehensive programme of action that would actualise the ANCYL’s seven cardinal pillars for economic transformation.

“This programme of action will include a process of continuous interaction with deployees of the ANC in the Cabinet to express dissatisfaction with the slow pace of resolving and implementing all matters of interest to the youth of the country.”

During their three-day meeting, ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule officially gave the task team its terms of reference while former president Kgalema Motlanthe gave the group an induction in which he said the autonomy of the ANCYL was sacrosanct.

President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the NYTT on Saturday.

The NYTT meeting further appointed Mlondolozi Mkhize as national organiser, Sizophila Mkhize as national spokesperson and former president Jacob Zuma’s daughter, Thuthukile Zuma, as national fund raiser.

The following members were elected to the NYTT’s working task team:
• Precious Banda
• Tsileng Sobuthongo
• Anele Matuntuta
• Xolani Mgxotheni
• Lesego Makhubela
• Sebang Mahlabi
• Gumani Mukwevho
• Fasiha Hassan
• Pinky Mbele
• Eugene Manana

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