CApe Town - A group of dissident members of the ANC Youth League, calling themselves "ANC Youth Activists", have threatened legal action over what they call “illegitimate” regional conferences.
Former ANCYL Western Cape regional task team member Mesuli Kama said the provincial executive committee (PEC) was not legitimate, and could thus not hold regional conferences.
“The term of the PEC of the ANCYL ended in February and they have not held constitutional meetings of the PEC. Now they want to hold regional conferences. They are not allowed to do that,” Kama said.
The ANCYL PEC convened two regional conferences over the weekend, one in Central Karoo and another in the Southern Cape.
Kama argued that the PEC held regional conferences in places which have not yet held their branch general meetings (BGMs), in accordance with the party’s constitution.
He said the PEC rushed to hold regional conferences to influence the nomination of the national leadership at the party’s December conference.
“What they’re doing is creating the perception that young people in the Western Cape are supporting Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma to be president of the ANC.
"They want to rush the regional conferences where they will pronounce her the preferred leader,” Kama added.
But ANC insiders have indicated that the preferred candidate in the province is Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Out of all the branches that have concluded their BGMs, Ramaphosa received 78 nominations.
Kama said Dlamini Zuma was not widely supported in the province. “The NDZ campaign has not been able to find its feet. It obtained less than 30% of the nominations in the province."
Kama said membership of the regions and BGMs, which had been held, had not been audited in accordance with procedure.
“We are in a process of getting legal advice with the intention of obtaining an interdict against the ANCYL PEC and NEC for allowing these conferences outside the constitutional plan.”
The faction has also accused the National Youth Development Agency chairperson Sfiso Mtsweni, a member of the ANCYL NEC, of using the organisation’s funds to run his campaign to succeed Collen Maine as the ANCYL president in 2018.
They further claim he appointed his fiancée a regional task team co-ordinator in the Southern Cape. Mtsweni denied it.