According to youth league president and law student at Witwatersrand University, Zareef Minty, his aim is to be involved in parliament by next year. Before joining the Patriotic Alliance, Minty was involved in the African National Congress Youth League, but found their party “inconsistent”, and left.
“The youth can decide on how we run South Africa and who our leaders will be. It is in our own hands. Many young people have a voice, but find voting irrelevant as they do not learn about politics in school, and are unaware how important it is to society,” said Minty.
Kunene, who is the secretary-general of the party, supports the growth of the youth and included their importance in his policies when he co-founded the party.
He strongly believes in encouraging young people to start their own businesses, and one of his policies is to push for a government bank that is not looking to make profits. His goal is for the bank to assist young people to take out loans that offer a minimum interest rate, which would allow driven individuals to start businesses with financial help along the way.
Kunene said he is directly running against the Democratic Alliance in the Western Cape and aims to eradicate gangsterism and ganglords on the Cape Flats.
Political leader of the DA’s youth wing, Mbali Ntuli, however, thinks that Kunene’s party does not have the youth’s best interests at heart.
She is skeptical about their ideologies, and thinks it is “an easy thing to get the community to vote to get rid of gangsterism, but is a far more complex issue than they realise”.
According to Kunene, their approach is to uplift and change people’s lives, but “with a view of saying let us deal with this”.
Kunene believes that South Africa is a beautiful country with a painful history. “The post-apartheid spirit of reconciliation, anti-racism and just building this country together is one of the most inspiring stories of the world,” he added.
According to Kunene, the party believes they can instigate change, as they “are people of action and come with no political baggage”. The Patriotic Alliance will be promoting their campaign in the Sandton area in the next few months.
Details: Zareef Minty 0827080270 or mintyzareef@yahoo.co.za
