ANC National Youth Task Team laments gate-keeping ahead for Youth League conference

ANC National Youth Task Team coordinator Sibongile Besani. File photo: Motshwari Mofokeng/African News Agency (ANA)

ANC National Youth Task Team coordinator Sibongile Besani. File photo: Motshwari Mofokeng/African News Agency (ANA)

Published Mar 3, 2020

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Johannesburg - The ANC National Youth Task Team (ANC NYTT) has admitted that challenges of gate-keeping have beset its processes as it prepares for the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) national conference scheduled for May.

The ANC NYTT was appointed by the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) last year after the disbandment of the ANCYL national structure and was given until this month to convene an elective national conference.

The task team has however been plagued by divisions at its highest levels which saw its coordinator Sibongile Besani resigning last month over alleged manipulation of processes before being ordered to return to his post by the ANC’s top brass.

Following its meeting at the weekend, the ANC NYTT announced that it had postponed the holding of the conference from March to May.

In a statement, the task team said while a substantial amount of branches had been verified last month, there were provinces and regions that had failed to submit their membership due to gate-keeping.

“The rebuilding of the ANCYL must be a holistic process that is able to ensure the participation of young people across the length and breadth of our country which paid their membership. Therefore provinces, regions and branches across the country have been granted an opportunity to submit all membership of ANCYL in their possession which corresponds with the 31 December 2019 cut-off date,” ANC NYTT said.

The task team further added that it wanted to ensure that the upcoming congress reflected the voice of young people and that the process had to be inclusive.

“Provincial and regional structures are urged to disseminate this information to the branches within their jurisdiction as there have been deliberate attempts in certain provinces to exclude young people from verifying their membership,” the ANC NYTT said.

Former ANCYL presidents, Lulu Johnson, Malusi Gigaba and Fikile Mbalula are among task team members who have been roped into the office of the coordinator to resolve the crisis. 

Political Bureau

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