Youth League tries to regain credibility, battles dissent

As the ANC national policy conference and elective congress loom, the ANC Youth League national leadership is fighting to gain back its credibility, while battling resistance from within.

A new structure has been appointed for the Eastern Cape and the league’s national executive committee has sent a stern warning to the KwaZulu-Natal structure after its secretary Thanduxolo Sabelo allegedly referred to the Eastern Cape and Gauteng ANC structures as a “bunch of losers”.

Sabelo also threw Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s name into the ring as a suitable candidate to replace President Jacob Zuma.

This did not sit well with the ANCYL national structure, with spokesman Mlondi Mkhize saying the league would engage with Sabelo regarding his remarks.

“We have now sent letters to all provinces in relation to the matter of the 2017 conference. We do not expect any province to pronounce before the national structure pronounces,” he said.

Political analyst Somadoda Fikeni said: “The league is not the same any more. It has now positioned itself to defend a faction of the current leadership. Their recent moves are just to neutralise their opponents.”

Mkhize said the appointment of task teams in the Eastern Cape and Gauteng was intended to strengthen its structures ahead of its NEC meeting in December.