Zweli Mkhize Picture: Bongiwe Mchunu
The ANC Youth League’s national task team wants former minister Zweli Mkhize to take the reins as ANC president and Treasurer Paul Mashatile to be his deputy.
Though the Young Lions’ choice for president has been welcomed by members of the Youth League, some constituents have questioned the logic behind the choice for the new leadership.
The ANC Women’s League national task team also received flak this week after reports it had snubbed Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma in favour of President Cyril Ramaphosa as their referred candidate.
The two leagues are currently under the control of interim structures after being disbanded by the ANC NEC. They have yet to host congress to elect a new leadership.
The youth league’s task team also announced this week that Limpopo premier Stan Mathabatha should be chairperson, transport minister Fikile Mbalula secretary general and former sanitation minister Nomvula Mokonyane his deputy, and ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe was their choice for treasurer general.
The leagues preferred leadership has not only snubbed incumbent president Cyril Ramaphosa for a second term but also seemingly thrown its weight behind older candidates, with the only younger candidate being 42-year-old Mabe.
The youth league previously vowed it would back ANC Youth League graduates such as justice minister Ronald Lamola and Eastern Cape Provincial Executive Committee member Andile Lungisa for the top six.
But their names were only on the party’s list as additional members.
ANCYL task team spokesperson Sizophila Mkhize said they believed the leaders they had chosen would champion issues affecting young people and "make them catalysts for the development of all sectors of the economy."
"We agreed that we must elect leaders who will ensure that young people’s potential is harnessed in order to guarantee the acceleration of social-economic development throughout the country," Mkhize said.
Mkhize also said they wanted a president who would work with the collective, the alliance partners, and all youth structures to resuscitate the old ANC.
"We need a leadership that will end load shedding, which has crippled our economy, ensure access to land, and transform the financial sector for the benefit of young people and indigenous people," Mkhize said.
An Eastern Cape delegate said the youth league’s task teams views were far removed from what branches had been calling for during the nominations process.
Athi Daniso, who is set to attend the conference next month, accused the structure of failing to consult its constituents, resulting in those at the helm picking their "faves" for leadership.
Daniso said the task team had failed to consider all nominations from various branches.
"Their views are not capturing our views. In the region where I am from, not a single branch nominated Mbalula. In the Eastern Cape, I don’t think even 20% of branches nominated him," Daniso said.
Daniso who vowed he would not vote for most of the candidates proposed by the structures also accused those at the helm of ANC NYTT of peddling the interests of senior ANC members.
"I fail to understand the line of logic of the NYTT. "They appear to be a bunch of individuals who appear to be returning the favour because they were handpicked by certain individuals," Daniso said.
Daniso’s views were reiterated by Congress of South African Students (Cosas) secretary general and ANC youth league member Teboho Magafane, who argued that tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu was their preferred candidate for the position of president and not Mkhize.
"With regards to the position of president, we need a female president because it’s clear that the men have been at the helm since 1994 and we have been dealing with scandals."
"We need a female who doesn’t have a cloud of darkness or corruption over her." "Lindiwe is credible," Magafane said.
Magafane said NYTT members were not credible and were "in the pockets of old people."
"None of the people on that structure were elected, and some of them have no constituents; no one would listen even if they tried to address a rally," Magafane said.
He did, however, express satisfaction that some of the candidates put forward were COSAs graduates.
"In the ANC, we have different generations of leaders. We want a crop of leadership that has a footprint in student politics because that’s where the revolution begins; this is the crop of people that will save the ANC," he said.
A member of the ANC Women’s league in the Western Cape who asked not to be named said their women’s league choice of leadership had left them puzzled.
The woman said though it was expected they believed the structure could have at least supported a woman.
“We have been expecting the structure to announce its support for Ramaphosa due to the proximity of the leadership to him but we thought sanity would prevail.
“Our only recourse now is that we will vote as individuals at the conference, we don’t have to follow marching orders,” the woman said.