Durban - The ANC Youth League’s National Task Team says that it expects to play a leading role as it prepares for its National Congress next March.
Its mother body, the ANC, heads into next year’s National General Council and the 2021 local government elections with the youth movement saying it will rekindle “the values and cultures of the congress movement in the Youth League”.
This comes after the task team held its second meeting at the weekend where discussions were held on key issues such as the Student Representative Council (SRC) elections in universities, the co-option of women into the task team, the composition of the task team’s working committee, measures to combat gate keeping and the road map to rebuilding the Youth League.
The 11-member committee includes former Youth League president Collen Maine, former Youth League secretary-general Njabulo Nzuza and the league’s former treasurer general and one time presidential hopeful Reggie Nkabinde.
The task team’s convener Tandi Mahambehlala said that the structure would assist the task team with the administration of day-to-day tasks.
The task team has also adopted what it refers to as a “strategic road map to congress” which it says will form an integral part of rebuilding the Youth League. It also said that regional youth assemblies would be held in all provinces by the end of the month.
Nine senior ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) members who have been roped in to become conveners of deployees across the nine provinces. These include Nomvula Mokonyane in KwaZulu-Natal, Malusi Gigaba in the Eastern Cape, Thandi Moraka in Gauteng, Pinky Kekana in the Free State, Fikile Mbalula in Limpopo, Febe
Potgieter in Mpumalanga, Njabulo Nzuza in the Northern Cape, Reggie Nkabinde in the North West and Faith Muthambi in the Western Cape.
On the task team’s measures to combat gatekeeping ahead of its National Congress, Mahambehlala said: “The NYTT has adopted a digital membership system which is linked to that of the ANC. The system will go live on the 27th of October 2019. A comprehensive programme will be unveiled soon which will speak to the recruitment processes as the ANC NYTT prepares for a National Congress.”
The task team also said that it would seek to discipline structures of the ANCYL and the South African Student Congress that continue to contest each other during SRC elections.
“In pursuit of this resolution, the NYTT will endeavour to discipline existing structures across the board which have failed to abide by and implement this resolution of congress,” said Mahambehlala.
In recent years SASCO has lost several SRC elections to the Economic Freedom Fighters’ Student Command, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal at institutions such as the Durban University of Technology, University of Zululand and Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT).
However, SASCO has gained some ground with victory at several universities during the recent SRC elections at Central University of Technology, MUT, University of the Free State, Sol Plaatje University, Tshwane University of Technology, Nelson Mandela University, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Wits, University of the Western Cape, University of Mpumalanga and University of Venda.