No more gatekeeping, factionalism in rebuilt ANCYL – task team

The ANC is doing away with gatekeeping in the recruitment of ANC Youth league (ANCYL) members and building an organisation that will fight equally for the needs of all young people.

The party is aiming to restore the league to its original mandate, which is to mobilise the youth in general under the banner of the ANC.

The party would also stop the practice of excluding those who belong to the “wrong factions”.

This was one of the decisions of the new national youth task team (NYTT) which was appointed by top officials at ANC headquarters to rebuild the league.

The ANCYL was beset by infighting, factionalism and bankruptcy under its former president, Collen Maine, and secretary-general Njabulo Nzuza.

Maine was unpopular with the general membership, who had demanded the league’s national executive committee step down after its term of office expired. Countrywide protests had been organised against the leadership.

NYTT convener Tandi Mahambehlala said they would ensure all barriers to league membership were removed to ensure the organisation could perform all its duties.

“It is imperative that the youth league and its role in the South African body politic are reimagined,” Mahambehlala said.

A recent NYTT workshop suggested that rebuilding the ANCYL was an urgent strategic priority for the party.

“Success in this regard ensures not only the resonance of ANC views among the youth but, above all else, it guarantees the ANC its future,” she said.

The league was liquidated following a successful lawsuit by former Western Cape premier Helen Zille. She sued the league for defamation of character after its former president, Julius Malema, and fellow leaders Floyd Shivambu and Andile Lili called her a racist.

The South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg ruled in Zille’s favour and the judgment caused the ANCYL to go bankrupt, which some members blamed on Malema and Shivambu, who were subsequently expelled from the ANC.

Mahambehlala said one of the team’s tasks would be to get the league’s liquidation rescinded.

The NYTT had also decided that rebuilding the league should incorporate the Progressive Youth Alliance and young women.

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