Ramaphosa slams ‘ineffective’ ANCYL
Says Peter Mokaba was principled leader of youth wing, which is no longer able to draw young people to ANC
PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has slammed the ANC Youth League for what he called its ineffectiveness in leading young people and bringing them closer to the ANC.
Ramaphosa was addressing the 60th anniversary of the late former ANCYL president Peter Mokaba in Cato Crest in Durban, which is part of drumming up support for the ANC’s upcoming 107th anniversary celebrations scheduled for Saturday at Moses Mabhida Stadium.
The governing party will also unveil its manifesto for the upcoming general elections.
Ramaphosa hailed Mokaba as a principled leader of the party’s youth wing, adding that the ANCYL had lost the confidence of young people and was no longer able to draw them to the ANC, as it was preoccupied with ANC factional battles.
“We must celebrate Mokaba because he embodied the kind of values our youth should espouse at all times.
“He was a hero of his generation because he immersed himself, heart and soul, into the struggle for the creation of a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa.”
Ramaphosa said that in honour of Mokaba, entry-level job experience for youth would be done away with. He said this would happen under him in government and he would push the private sector to do the same.
Referring to the current state of the Youth League, he said: “Young people say they don’t feel it, providing leadership to the young people of our country. What we often see with the ANCYL are press statements sometimes attacking this one and sometimes responding to that one,” Ramaphosa said.
“In institutions of higher learning, with the ANCYL working with Sasco, we have not seen them working among the students and making sure that the congress ideology is embraced by the young people,” he added.
Ramaphosa said that the ANCYL had to work at making sure that it was a home of all young people if it wanted to regain its influence.
“The second task that you have is promoting unity. We want to see the Youth League being concerned about the state of disunity, and where there is factionalism, the Youth League must be the one that moves in to make sure we get rid of factionalism,” he said.
In May the ANC is set to face its toughest electoral contest to date, and Ramaphosa lamented the ANCYL’s inability to woo young voters behind the ANC’s banner.
“This election campaign we are going to need the Youth League and other youth formations of the congress movement to make sure that the ANC emerges victorious.
“The challenge we have right now is that many of the people who have not registered (to vote) are still young people,” he said.
He said that the ANC would not perform well if it did not benefit from the youth vote, which was likely to have a decisive influence on electoral outcomes.
Meanwhile, ANC provincial chairperson Sihle Zikalala earlier yesterday called on the Shembe Nazareth Baptist Church to pray for the end of violence within the party ahead of elections.
Zikalala was attending the church’s annual pilgrimage in Ozwathini, which Ramaphosa was scheduled to attend but cancelled at the eleventh hour due to bad weather.
“We request that they pray for peace as we go for the ANC 107th anniversary.
“We are approaching elections and we request that they continue to support us in praying for peace and ensure that they support the democratisation of our country by participating in the elections,” Zikalala said.