YOUTH VOTE WILL DECIDE 2014 POLL

Ntuli spells out DA plan to woo them

NEWLY elected DA Youth leader Mbali Ntuli has set out to convince young voters, who she says will hold the balance of power in the next general elections, to vote DA.

The country is to hold its fifth democratic general election next year. Ntuli told Sowetan yesterday her immediate task was to recruit young people. She said she felt she was in a good space to successfully execute the task.

“The youth in the 2014 elections will be a decider for most political parties. We as the DA Youth are ready to contest for youth votes and membership,” Ntuli said.

She said the DA would embark on a major recruitment campaign “that will take us to townships, rural areas and everywhere. We know that today ’ s youth want accountability and clean governance. The DA shares the same values”.

“The message we have from the mother body is very clear: we must win the youth vote and increase membership. We plan to do just that,” she said.

Ntuli, a Rhodes University graduate, intends to work closely with the Democratic Alliance Student Organisation (Daso), which operates at most universities, to attract and recruit young people.

“Daso is the governing student body at the University of Pretoria and at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. We are also making inroads at other institutions of higher learning,” she said.

Ntuli praised her predecessor Makashule Gana “for laying a solid foundation in building DA Youth structures. We have vibrant structures in all parts of the country”.

In elections at Newtown, Johannesburg, on Saturday, Yusuf Cassim was elected federal chairman and Tertius Simmers federal youth training and development chairman.

Ntuli is a product of the DA’s young leadership programme and has served as DA Youth chairperson in her home province, KwaZulu-Natal.

Ntuli claims she does not aspire to any other leadership positions in the party.

“I am comfortable as youth leader. Honestly, I am not thinking of other positions.”