ANCYL cooks its member numbers
2011-09-25 14:34
Johannesburg - The ANC Youth League is almost half the size its spokesperson Floyd Shivambu claims it to be, suggesting he has lied publicly and to its members to artificially boost the league’s power.
The revelation comes as Shivambu and league president Julius Malema plan on Sunday to disband the KwaZulu-Natal provincial executive committee, which is resisting efforts to purge Jacob Zuma as ANC president in Mangaung next year.
Shivambu in a press statement on March 2, a day before Malema’s 30th birthday, said: “The message of the more than 600 000 members of the ANC Youth League on the birthday of its president (Malema) is that he should grow stronger.”
But the league’s latest membership figures paint a different picture.
At its national congress in June, membership stood at 366 435.
Audit
Shivambu told City Press: “We have clarified in congress that to say that the audited members for the 24th national congress’s purposes was 366 000, but the overall number of members is more than 600 000.
“The audit focuses on branches that go to their branch general meetings with a quorum, and membership applications are different. Branches that went to congress are those that have a minimum of 100 members and went to branch general meetings with a quorum of 50%+1 of their total membership within the dates we had given.
“Other branches that did not have members up to 100 or did not reach quorum were not in congress because they did not pass the audit. This does not mean that their members are not members,” Shivambu said.
KwaZulu-Natal, the league’s biggest province, has 72 427 members and 685 branches. Therefore, the KwaZulu-Natal league makes up 20% of the national membership. This province refused to send buses to support Malema when he faced disciplinary action at Luthuli House. And it is pushing hard against the league’s militant efforts to unseat Zuma as ANC president at Mangaung.
Now Malema and his allies want to disband the league’s KZN provincial executive committee, which is packed with Zuma supporters. The league’s top six executives, including Malema, will descend on Durban on Sunday to wield the axe. Some league provincial leaders, however, are ready to take the fight to Malema.
Street fight
“If we are disbanded, we will form a parallel structure. There will be no rules. It will be a street fight. People in the league are sick and tired of Julius,” said three league leaders who spoke to City Press.
In another show of support for Zuma, on Monday last week, premier and ANC provincial chairperson Zweli Mkhize lashed out at Malema.
“We begin to see people who see themselves as untouchables. If you don’t want to be within the ANC rules, you are free to leave.”
City Press has learnt that Shivambu is spearheading the campaign to have the PEC disbanded.
Shivambu reportedly proposed to the extended national working committee last Sunday that the PEC be disbanded. The matter will be finalised at the NEC meeting next month.
Shivambu said: “We don’t dignify rumours and leaks through giving comments. So I will never respond to cowards and liars who secretly speak to journalists, lie to them and sensationalise organisational process, yet keep quiet in meetings.”
Zuma supporters
League provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo, a Malema ally, confirmed Sunday’s meeting, but said he was not aware of a plan to disband the committee. “If the PEC is disbanded, for whatever reasons, I will have no problem with that.”
City Press has established that:
- At the PEC meeting last month Shivambu said: “My views on who should be president of the ANC (at the Mangaung conference next year) are known to you.”
Most regions rejected this (the push for Kgalema Motlanthe) and reaffirmed their support for Zuma.
- Shivambu wants the PEC out of the way because the league’s chairperson, Mthandeni Dlungwane (Zuma’s nephew), and deputy secretary Sboniso Duma are Zuma supporters. This leaves Mtolo isolated. The position of deputy chairperson has been vacant since Sindiso Magaqa, a Malema diehard, was elected the league’s secretary-general.
- At the very first meeting of the newly elected NEC in Gauteng, Malema led a debate on ANC succession which the ANC had banned. It is here that Shivambu reportedly advocated for a total takeover of the ANC leadership in Mangaung.