THE ANC Youth League will hold its 26th national conference to elect new leadership, after the expulsion of Julius Malema.
This year's conference coincided with the celebrations of 70 years' existence of the Youth League.
In 1944 after consultation between the young men and women and the ANC leadership, especially Dr AB Xuma, the Youth League was formally established in Johannesburg. Survival of the ANC Youth League until today has been assisted by young radicals, intellectuals and disciplined cadres like Anton Lembede, Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela.
Young people must learn from their elders, who never took politics as the short route, instead sacrificing their lives to liberate the masses.
However in the history of the ANC, we tend to remember and draw attention to leadership contests and transitions that signalled a strategic change or shift in the movement. For example, it is rather difficult to explain the building of a mass ANC in the 1950s after the adoption of the 1949 Programme of Action, without also mentioning how the ANC Youth League wanted to ensure that it found the correct leader willing to lead in the implementation of this programme.
Today the ANC Youth League needs to draw clear lines between right and wrong, and strengthen the ability to build the capacity of youth. As factionalism is associated with a shadow organisational culture, it often breeds intolerance, removing the vibrancy of debate and the mutual enrichment among members that are the lifeblood of the organisation.
In the process, the line between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour becomes blurred, as goalposts get shifted depending on who is involved. Such ambiguity opens the movement to all sorts of opportunist behaviour.
Our movement is dominated by politics of careerism which gradual destroys ability and activism. Therefore we need intellectual, disciplined and radical leaders like Ronald Lamola to be next the president and deputies led by Maropene Ntuli.
Lamola is a matured leader who can bring back the supporters and dignity of the ANC Youth League after Malema made a mess.
I urge that the upcoming conference must engage on a battle of ideas for the future and the benefit of this country, and elect matured leadership who can change the poor conditions of living and not enrich themselves.
Thabang Maseko, spokesman, EC Young Communist League SA