ANC could change the image of youth league
ADECISION today on the temporary leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League could change the image of the ANC’s young politicians.
The ruling party has cast its eye across young people in SA — inside and outside the party — searching for a leader who is going to breathe new life into its collapsed youth wing.
The ANC wants youth leaders that appeal to young people, particularly those in the voting age group.
It wants young, educated people who are able to connect with the youth without necessarily raising their voice, says ANC secretarygeneral Gwede Mantashe, describing the calibre of the youth leader the party has been searching for for almost four weeks.
The league under Julius Malema was deemed rowdy and this was unattractive to sections of the youth wing’s potential supporters and ultimately ANC voters. “Ill-discipline” was cited as a major factor that led to the once-powerful league’s downfall, when the ANC national executive committee (NEC) last month dissolved the youth wing’s top leadership.
The party’s national working committee meets today to finalise the matter, but the task of finding a new face for the league — someone who has little in common with Mr Malema — has proven difficult.
The ANC is not short of young leaders who meet the criteria for the job. A cursory glance at the overall academic profile of the league’s NEC — formerly led by Mr Malema — is revealing of both the league under Mr Malema and the quality of possible leadership contenders.
It is a misconception that the ANC Youth League upper echelons were uneducated delinquents. While a few of the 30-member executive had no post-matric tertiary qualification, at least one had a master's degree in business administration; one was a qualified mechanical engineer; two had law degrees, with one being an admitted attorney; three had undergraduate degrees and five had a national diploma in one or other field.
Among the possible candidates mentioned to pick up the mantle as head of the league were Young Communist League deputy chairman Mawethu Rune, former South African Students Congress secretary-general Magasela Mzobe and ANC deputy chief whip in Parliament, Nkhensani Kubayi.
The name of football player and Kaizer Chiefs star Jimmy Tau has also been bandied about.
But are these young people the answer to the ANC’s difficulty in attracting the young vote?
The ANC has requested young people to submit their CVs to the league’s interim leadership for consideration. As a result, young people have been seen flocking to Luthuli House with brown envelopes, delivering their CVs. However, this appears to be an attempt to depoliticise a tricky political situation.
Not long after President Jacob Zuma was re-elected in Mangaung last December — amid opposition from the youth league — the youth wing was given three options: to work with the new ANC leadership; to convene an early national conference to fill vacant posts left after Mr Malema’s expulsion and the suspension of league secretary-general Sindiso Magaqa; or to disband.
The league wanted an early conference but Mr Zuma’s leadership opted to disband the whole ANC Youth League structure. This means temporary leadership must be put together to rebuild the young wing. Since it has been chosen by the mother party, this also means that the new leadership of the organisation is unlikely to challenge Mr Zuma’s authority.
Political analyst Ralph Mathekga says the ANC’s primary challenge would be to come up with individuals who appear neutral and who are not tainted by the party’s factional infighting. “The idea should be that those new leaders that come in should have credibility,” Mr Mathekga says. Those appointed would be expected to toe the ANC line, to avoid a repeat of what happened when Mr Malema was in charge of the league, he says.
However, a key question remains: the ANC wants to change the image of the youth league, but what does it want to change it to?