Members of the media abandoned a briefing and celebratory arrangement of the African National Congress (ANC) and its youth league in Limpopo on Thursday when officials haven’t managed to start close to an hour after the set time.
On Thursday at 14:00 scores of youthful party members streamed into Frans Mohlala House for the cutting of a cake in celebration of the ANC Youth League’s (Ancyl) 74th birthday, which journalists planned to attend in addition to a press briefing on the Student Representative Council (SRC) elections results at the University of Limpopo.
By 14:50, when journalists left the building, ANC Provincial Secretary Soviet Lekganyane had still not shown up for the formalities. In the meantime members of the media who enquired about the delay were informed that the occasion would start soon.
While waiting the group of young supporters used the time to sing liberations songs and lyrics from the revolution, their voices carrying through Frans Mohlala House.
In a media statement received late Thursday afternoon, Lekganyane said that at that historic moment of the celebration of the 74th anniversary of the Ancyl, the ANC in the province welcomed and celebrated the resounding victory achieved by its vibrant youth formation, the Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA) under the banner of the South African Students’ Congress (Sasco) at UL. “The PYA has not led the Turfloop Campus for (a) period exceeding five years. The Turfloop campus is of historical strategic importance to the liberation movement. It has always been the centre of revolutionary activism sharpening the consciousness of many youth in the province and to some extend(t) the country.
“With this victory of the Sasco-led PYA, an overwhelming number of UL students have reaffirmed the ANC as their only political home and manifestly demonstrated their belief in the transformation agenda driven by the African National Congress.
“This victory comes fresh after a series of similar victories across the institutions of higher learning in the province. Sasco-led PYA has recently won convincingly at both the Tshwane University of Technology (Polokwane) and the Limpopo campus of Unisa.
Lekganyane continued saying their machinery was already oiled to produce yet another resounding victory at the soon to be held SRC elections at the University of Venda.
Story & photos: YOLANDE NEL
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