By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
African National Congress President Cyril Ramaphosa says the party’s youth structure has made history by electing the first formal structure of the ANCYL in the last eight years.
The youth league has not sat for a conference since 2015, when Collen Maine was chosen as president in what many considered a dubious election.
Ramaphosa was speaking at the 26th ANCYL congress, which was held at the the Nasrec Expo Centre in Johannesburg over the weekend.
Collen Malatji was elected president of the ANCYL unopposed after Aphiwe Mkhangelwa declined nomination from the floor.
Malatji’s slate made a clean sweep for the rest of the youth league’s leadership, with Phumzile Mgcina, Mntuwoxolo Ngudle, Tsakani Shiviti and Zwelo Masilela being elected as deputy president, secretary-general, deputy-secretary general and treasurer-general respectively.
“Young people have not had a voice in quite a long time, you are now the voice of the young people, said Ramaphosa.”
He further congratulated the delegates on electing the first woman as the ANCYL deputy president and the first woman as second deputy secretary general.
Ramaphosa encouraged the party’s youth structure to take charge of reviving the ANC.
“You stand on the shoulders of giants in liberation movement,” Ramaphosa said.
The ANC’s deepening divisions and factionalism remain the biggest threat to the party and the country’s democratic gains.
Ramaphosa believes a stronger commitment to defending democracy and acting decisively against ill-discipline may be the answer to the party’s crisis.
While acknowledging that it has indeed been “a long and arduous journey”, Ramaphosa said it was the resilience and dedication of many young people who have brought the structure to a successful congress.
He highlighted that there were key tasks ahead of the ANC Youth League that they must execute.
Ramaphosa said the ANCYL must be a disciplined organisation and must mobilise young people for social change and come up with strategies on how to best achieve economic emancipation.
He also urged the youth wing of the ruling party to tackle the “ticking time bomb” of high unemployment rate amongst young people.
“This newly elected leadership will lead young people at a time when the cost of living is high and unemployment, in particular, youth unemployment, is unacceptably high. More than 11 million people are unemployed in our country,” said Ramaphosa.
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