Anti-Maine letter upsets ANCYL, calls for disciplinary step

Cosatu has openly backed Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa

THE ANC Youth League (ANCYL) in KwaZulu-Natal has called for disciplinary action against a National Executive Committee (NEC) member who attacked its president Collen Maine.

Provincial secretary Thanduxolo Sabelo was left fuming after Rhulani Thembi Siweya wrote an anti-Maine letter which was circulated on social media yesterday.

She accused Maine of by-passing “some of us” in lobbying for certain people to be elected into leadership positions during the December ANC conference.

“There is no way a leader goes out publicly to attack the president of the ANCYL. She must not be left unattended to by the national disciplinary committee,” said Sabelo.

It is believed outgoing AU Commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma was one person Siweya was accusing Maine of campaigning for.

Sabelo, who is also an NEC member, denied Maine lobbied without the committee’s knowledge.

“If she has a problem with the posture of the president she must come to the NEC as the NEC member.”

Siweya alleged Maine was campaigning without having opened the matter for debate within the league.

“Why don’t we as the NEC open the debate about leadership preference and consult structures before you pronounce on their behalf without a mandate to do so?

“Worse, the NEC has never taken a resolution – all I remember is that we agreed to discuss the issue later on.

“I am saddened you are already all over, expressing yourself and making it sound like an NEC decision,” wrote Siweya.

She called on Maine to stop his actions “because even the ANC has not yet officially allowed us to start debating the matter. We must never do things outside guidelines of the organisation we aspire to lead one day.”

ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa had earlier this week called on party structures to cease dividing the party by prematurely endorsing their preferred candidates.

The ANCYL, Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans’ Association and ANC Women’s League had already pronounced on Dlamini Zuma to succeed President Jacob Zuma. Cosatu has openly backed Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Sabelo defended the league for nominating Dlamini Zuma before time. “The ANCYL is the body of opinion, so it sparks debate internally in the ANC.

“We continue to play the same role of Peter Mokaba, Fikile Mbalula, Sihle Zikalala, Malusi Gigaba, Lulu Johnson and president Anton Lembede.

“So there is absolutely nothing new that we have done as the ANCYL. We have done everything that the ANCYL was established to do.”

He said the league nominated Dlamini Zuma because “we are not ashamed of the leaders we want to back. We don’t at all regret having pronounced Nkosazana”.

However, Sabelo, who is also a member of the ANCYL NEC, said the league would discuss the matter with the ANC’s NEC.

“If the ANC feels uncomfortable then we will engage them internally,” said Sabelo.

ANCYL national spokesperson Mlondolozi Mkhize also condemned Siweya.

“We would have hoped that Comrade Thembi was going to raise the matter within the structures of the ANCYL,” said Mkhize. He denied that Maine had pronounced Dlamini Zuma as the league’s preference.

“The president said we do agree with the women’s league on saying that we should get a female president; a female president is not a name of an individual,” he said.

University of KwaZuluNatal political analyst Zakhele Ndlovu said he was expecting more divisions ahead of the conference. He said the situation would be worse after the conference as members of the defeated faction would be left disgruntled.

“This (letter by Siweya) shows that there are serious divisions not only in the mother body, but even in the ANCYL.

“I would imagine that even the ANCWL would soon hear someone coming out saying ‘we were never consulted about this decision to endorse Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma’. Between now and October we can expect more of these things,” said Ndlovu.