‘We’re the elders, we’re in control’ − Mantashe schools Youth League over 50% seats call

ANC national chair Gwede Mantashe has hit back at the Eastern Cape ANC Youth League over its demands of a 50% youth representation in parliament and councils.

The league has previously called for 50% of MPs deployed to parliament and other legislative bodies to be young people, with president Collen Malatji arguing these councils are retirement villages.

Speaking at the ANC’s 2019 manifesto review in the Eastern Cape over the weekend, Mantashe reportedly warned the Youth League to instead focus on winning key elections and accept elders are “in control”.

ALSO READ: No country for young men and women

“I told them (the ANC Youth League) ‘you are going to lose campuses to the EFF because you focus on kwizinto ezinganifuniyo nina (things that you have nothing to do with).

“You must accept we are the elders here; we are in control,” he was quoted by DispatchLIVE as saying.

He admitted more young people should be included in decision-making bodies, but was reportedly against a “youth takeover”.

What ministries does the Youth League want to be in charge of?

Malatji told The Citizen in August that Ramaphosa should give the league departments such as public enterprises, trade and industry, human settlements, transport, basic education and higher education.

“We are clear on the recurring effects of the economy and we want to be the driver of that.

ALSO READ: ANCYL wants its members in key govt posts

“We will sit with the president and tell him these are the youths you must make ministers because we want to drive our agenda,” he said.

Old guard defending Gordhan?

ANCYL provincial chairperson Vuyo Jali reportedly suggested that ANC veterans were defending Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan.

The league has been at loggerheads with Gordhan for several months, after Malatji accused him of wanting to sell off state-owned enterprises.

“That one that sells everything is called Pravin. We are not allowing this. We have made our voice clear at the lekgotla.

“One day we’ll wake up and hear that South Africans have been sold to another country (by Gordhan),” Malatji told The Citizen.

Gordhan labelled the criticism a “deliberate distortion” seeking to “tarnish” his name and undermine the government.

ALSO READ: ‘I did not call for his axing’ – Mbalula says media misinterpreted his message to Gordhan

“The latest attacks from Collen Malatji (from whom the minister has demanded a public apology for his ill-considered statement) and from counter-revolutionaries and other discredited characters, underscore the fact that the public ought to know that there are vested interests intent on crippling ongoing reform of state-owned companies to the detriment of millions of South Africans,” said Gordhan’s office.