Limpopo ANCYL pleads for step-aside rule review

The ANC Youth League (ANCYL) in Limpopo is not on the same page as its mother body on the party’s contentious step-aside resolution.

The move, which many believed would widen existing cracks between the party’s wings, the youth league and the women’s league, was widely criticised by the ANCYL, which wrote a letter of concern to the party’s national executive committee (NEC) yesterday asking for the resolution to be put aside.

In the letter, the league labelled it a “draconian rule” meant to divide the party beyond repair.

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“We call on the ANC NEC to carefully consider the possible consequences of the implementation of the step-aside principle as it might have far-reaching ramifications,” said league provincial spokesman Nyiko Mbembani.

“The ANCYL in Limpopo is of the view that it is not too late to reconsider the step-aside stance in the interest of closing ranks within the ANC.

“It must be borne in mind that this is the same ANC that had rescinded a decision to expel members who take its structures to court, without first exhausting all internal avenues.

“This decision was visited and was deemed to be draconian and undemocratic, and not in tandem with the Constitution.

“We are also aware that the step-aside decision can be celebrated by some in the current political conjecture as it stands to eliminate their political foes internally. But what must not be ignored is that it only serves to do exactly that rather than to unite the ANC.

“We call on the executive committee, a structure at the apex of the organisation, to allow the branches to formally discuss the guidelines at the national general council before implementing them.”

This comes just two days before D-Day for those on the list to step aside voluntarily or face suspension. Some of the officials expected to honour or defy the resolution are ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule and ANC Limpopo treasurer Danny Msiza.

Magashule is allegedly involved in the R255 million Free State asbestos tender corruption case while Msiza was implicated in the collapse of the VBS Mutual Bank through alleged corrupt municipal investments.

Yesterday, the ANC in Limpopo sang a different tune from the ANCYL, praising the step-aside decision as the right move to instil discipline and re-align the party.

Provincial secretary Soviet Lekganyane said: “We support the resolutions of the Nasrec conference and we believe ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa has finally found the magic to rid the party of the riff-raff.”