Cape Town – The Western Cape ANC Youth League has suspended deputy chairperson Mfuzo Zenzile for publicly distancing himself from a statement made about nominations to the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) last week.
The ANCYL provincial executive committee (PEC) statement supported the renomination to the NYDA board of Sifiso Mtsweni, as the only candidate from the Western Cape. However, Zenzile used a Facebook post to disagree with the choice.
“Not all of us in that PEC report to NYDA headquarters. This is a statement by provincial chairperson of the ANCYL Khalid Sayed, his friend the provincial secretary Silas Rataza and provincial spokesperson Monwabisi Bahlekazi, not the PEC. You comrades should have written him text messages and endorsed him,” said Zenzile.
“Comrades must stop using the organisation for their personal gains. The organisation is already limping from a number of attacks and some among us see nothing wrong but to continue to put the name of the liberation movement in disrepute,” said Zenzile.
On Monday, Bahlekazi said: “We will no longer tolerate that PEC members publicly denounce official statements, work and decisions. The PEC would like to send a strong message of caution to the leaders and members of the ANCYL who continue acting in a manner inconsistent to the spirit of the Constitution and Code of Conduct of the ANC and the ANCYL. We must not mask ill-discipline behind a veil of a contending view,” said Bahlekazi.
ANC MPL Mesuli Kama wrote an open letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa about the process of nominations to the board citing gender parity and race representation issues.
“I knew it would have its ramifications. There has been a lot of hostilities even from comrades whom we always had a common understanding with on these issues,” said Kama.
“When I raised the issue of 50% representation for women, it was not just on the basis of tactics.
“It is a matter of principle as well as policy. The ANC reps should always be able and prepared to lead by example where gender parity is concerned,” said Kama.
“The meeting did not discuss the open letter. We discussed content of the board and our statement welcoming the board speaks for itself. We don’t want to get into name calling at this point,” said Sayed.
The SA Youth Chamber of Commerce, representing 20000 youth-owned businesses has challenged the NYDA board recommendations.
And the DA youth have also criticised them.
Spokesperson Luyolo Mphithi said: “We are encouraged to see young South Africans across the country are rejecting the ANC’s attempts to capture youth development through its compromised and corrupt cadre deployments strategy.”
Cape Argus