Johannesburg - The race for the next man to replace Julius Malema as ANC Youth League (ANCYL) president is proving to be a difficult contest for the pretenders to the throne.
On Sunday, a last-ditch coalition between former ANCYL deputy president Ronald Lamola and the league’s task team co-ordinator, Magasela Mzobe, collapsed - two days before thousands of delegates converge at the University of Johannesburg’s Soweto campus for the national conference that starts on Tuesday.
The shortlived pact was agreed late on Saturday following two days of intensive bilateral talks between the two camps. The deal was thrashed out during “a strategic caucus” meeting over the weekend in Midrand and attended by ANCYL members representing eight provinces and aligned to Mzobe and Lamola.
Only the Northern Cape was not represented.
Lamola and Mzobe denied any knowledge of the talks on Sunday. But The Star spoke to three sources, who independently corroborated one another in confirming the coalition and its collapse.
Under the deal, the two camps would have elected Lamola as league president, with Mzobe as his deputy. The move was an attempt to offset Pule Mabe’s presidential ambitions because he is seen as enjoying an unfair advantage.
The sources allege he has the backing of three premiers aligned to President Jacob Zuma: Mpumalanga’s David Mabuza, Free State’s Ace Magashule and North West’s Supra Mahumapelo.
Mabe, who is also a member of the ANC’s all-powerful national executive committee (NEC), has the backing of the ANCYL in Gauteng.
“Pule Mabe represents all we don’t want in the league,” said an ANCYL member who attended the meeting. “Besides the issue of the charges he faces, it can’t be that he still wants to preside over the league when he’s in the NEC. We don’t want a leader who will be micromanaged by senior leaders in the mother body.”
In what could be an indication of the ANCYL’s character under Lamola or Mzobe’s leadership, the members also deliberated on restoring the league’s militant disposition.
“We don’t want the type of league that is the conveyer belt or a mere youth desk of the ANC. We want the type of league that espouses the ideals of its founding members - Nelson Mandela and Anton Lembede. It must be a militant and vibrant organisation that fights for the ideals of economic freedom,” said another source.
The conference will be held amid fears that it could degenerate into chaos after acts of violence and intimidation marred most of the branch and regional conferences across the country.
Contenders for the leadership:
Pule Mabe
The former ANCYL treasurer appears to have shrugged off pending court action for alleged fraud, money laundering and theft to stake a formidable claim for the presidential position. Counting in his favour is the backing he enjoys of the most influential province, Gauteng, as well as relative support from Mpumalanga, North West and Free State. He is the youngest member of the ANC’s powerful national executive committee.
But, whether the support he enjoys from the provinces translates to ordinary branch delegates remains to be seen. His campaign has been marred by allegations of vote-buying.
Magasela Mzobe
Until his appointment last year as the ANCYL national task team (NTT) co-ordinator, Mzobe was not well known in national-politics circles. He seems to have done well using his platform to endear himself to the youth, gaining enough support to put up a good contest for the presidential post.
But his position in the NTT seems to have been a double-edged sword. He was largely blamed for the disputes over the branch audits in provinces such as Limpopo and the Eastern Cape.
He has been accused of refusing to endorse the outcome of regional conferences that were seen as not supportive of his candidacy.
Ronald Lamola
He presided over the ANCYL as its acting president following the expulsion of its erstwhile president Julius Malema in 2012, until he was sidelined after the league’s disbandment last year.
He is the only one of the three candidates who has stuck to the league’s popular catch-phrases of “radicalism”, “militancy” and “economic freedom in our lifetime” as his trump card.
He is the only candidate with no apparent close ties to Luthuli House, but it’s difficult to tell if this will count against him. He has been timid and vacillating on corruption, especially when quizzed on the Nkandla scandal.
The Star