ANCYL in province criticised
Chief whip says it needs to be more militant
Newly appointed ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina is unhappy with the state of the ANC Youth League in the Eastern Cape.
Majodina, who was the first woman to occupy the league’s seat as the treasurer after it was reactivated, told the Daily Dispatch that the party’s youth formation was not militant enough.
“Having led the youth league, I can say at a provincial and national level, we are found wanting. We don’t have a youth league that causes problems.
“[When] the ANCYL is found wanting and wobbling, you cannot have a strong Sasco and Young Communist League.
“That’s why they’re contesting one another in the universities. I’m not happy about the state of the youth league in the province and nationally.
“We don’t have a youth league that is supposed to be a preparatory ground or school for the ANC,” she said.
Asked whether the ANC in the Eastern Cape could trust its current youth structures enough to to send young politicians to parliament – as the DA did with former MP Yusuf Cassim, who was sworn into the Bhisho legislature on Wednesday – Majodina said the appointment of Oscar Mabuyane as premier was an indication that the party had trust in politicians who had filtered through its youth ranks.
“We were also once young and we are encouraged that this province has a young premier in Mabuyane. Before him there were older leaders, but now you can see winds of change.”
Majodina arrived back from Cape Town on Thursday and said the only way to deal with the militant and rowdy EFF MPs was to “keep calm”.
In a baptism of fire as ANC chief whip, Majodina was heckled by the EFF MPs when she tried to introduce President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Majodina said calmness was the best medicine because the ANC, and not the EFF of Julius Mamela, had a lot to lose by virtue of being the ruling party. “I am not approaching this with the attitude of ‘deal with them’ because I’m going to lose the plot if I take that approach. The ruling party has everything to lose and they [the EFF] don’t.”
The ruling party has everything to lose and they [the EFF] don’t