Johannesburg - The ANCYL wants to galvanise young people under the banner of the ANC and wants them to vote in the 2024 national elections.
ANCYL Gauteng co-ordinator Stanley Letsoalo conceded that the youth league had been absent for quite some time.
He said it was all systems go for the youth conference taking place in Nasrec on June 30.
The structure was disbanded in 2019 after failing to hold an elective conference after the end of Collen Maine’s term.
Letsoalo said the structure was instrumental in the type of leadership it wanted in the ANC provincial conference that saw Panyaza Lesufi emerge as Gauteng chairperson.
He said they believed Gauteng would lead the charge in terms of policy position at the conference.
Letsoalo said when it came to the leadership, they had a fundamental problem in that the youth league of today was an extension of the elders.
“So if you are not anointed by a particular elder, you are not fit to lead young people in the space. You can easily go to a village in Limpopo, for example, where there is a young person who can contribute meaningfully to the struggles of young people, provided they are given space.
“For the first time in history, the structure is going into a conference without having a discussion document,” he said.
Letsoalo announced that they were going to their PGC tomorrow.
“We are the only province that has prepared a document that’s responding to the discussion documents that were released by national; we are the only province, we want critical policy intervention so that when compared to what Congress concludes, and when the newly elected leadership read the declaration, we would know that those are resolutions that are sponsored by Gauteng,” said Letsoalo.
He was speaking at a networking session in Midrand on Saturday.
Letsoalo said Gauteng had members serving as office-bearers of the youth league, such as deputy co-ordinator Collen Malatji, optional fund-raiser Thuthukile Zuma and Bulelani Skhosana, who is responsible for international relations.
“Under normal circumstances, contestation would be rife; it’s more about the type of leadership that we’re going to produce. So I want us to come together and shape this thing properly so that it gives a particular direction, so that even society gets to understand our main focus in the 2024 general elections of how to galvanise young people,” said Letsoalo.
He said the youth league had two tasks: championing the interests of young people and galvanising them behind the ANC.
“Key among others is that there are issues that affect young people and they have lost confidence, whether it’s the ANC, EFF, or whatever the case may be. Young people don’t see the need to go out and cast their votes. Now, the question we should ask ourselves is, why is that the case, and the reason behind this is because we are not given the necessary space or audience for us to articulate our position,” he said.
Letsoalo said Gauteng was running Nasi iSpani, which seeks to create job opportunities for young people.
“We must be able to appreciate that the youth league in Gauteng was the one that deposited these solutions, but were we there in the space? No, we were not,” he said.
The Star