Youth league sets out plans to rebuild

THE African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) congress ended yesterday with new leadership and the formal dissolution of an ANC task team.

The three-day congress in Midrand began closing yesterday with an announcement by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of the ANCYL’s new national executive committee.

The ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe then officially dissolved the national task team established to rebuild the organisation after it was disbanded in 2013.

Delivering the congress resolutions yesterday‚ newly elected ANCYL deputy secretary-general Thandi Moraka announced a raft of decisions aimed at attracting the youth vote.

She also intimated a more hands-on, approach by leaders when monitoring activities of league branches and structures.

Socio-economic campaigns would also include pressure on key professions to transform.

Measures aimed at attracting the youth vote adopted by some 3 000 delegates, included a new social media policy‚ full-time regional leadership positions‚ and a policy conference to examine broader ANC programmes and policies should be convened‚ Moraka said.

“We have resolved that all structures of the ANCYL must establish programmes in line with resolutions‚ and branches must be monitored on all activities‚ not just on membership.

“We must embark on a new campaign for transformation in careers such as accounting‚ engineering and legal professions‚” she said.

The clear front-runner ahead of the congress, MEC for health in the North West and provincial league chairman Collen Maine, was elected uncontested as the new ANCYL president on Friday.

ANCYL Mpumalanga chairman Desmond Moela was elected deputy president and Njabulo Nzuza‚ a regional secretary in KwaZulu-Natal‚ was elected secretary-general.

Gauteng member Reggie Nkabinde was elected as treasurer-general.

This is the first formal leadership since the league was disbanded in 2013‚ but with clear indications from ANC leaders a tighter rein will be kept on the league‚ even as it gears up to recapture lost ground amid the emergence of new political rivals.

The establishment of the task team followed turmoil in the league after the expulsion of then league president Julius Malema in 2012‚ for bringing the party into disrepute.

Malema subsequently went on to establish the Economic Freedom Fighters‚ which has since become a force in the National Assembly and among other places‚ on campuses across the country. — BDlive