Durban - The ANC Youth League in KwaZulu-Natal on Friday distanced itself from reports that it wanted a young person elected as ANC president at the party’s 2017 elective congress.
The province’s ANCYL merely reaffirmed a call its national leaders made in June, for a female ANC president, the league’s KwaZulu-Natal secretary Thanduxolo Sabelo said in a statement on Friday.
He said although the youth league in the province supported the ANC NEC's decisions, it wanted young people be in its top structures.
“It is the firm view of the youth league that reports in the media today are a deliberate attempt at painting a picture of an organisation at war with itself.
“The intention is to feed the already formulated narrative that the ANC is in complete chaos and that even the youth league wants a generational take over. Nothing could be further from the truth. The youth league believes in a generational mix to reflect both an appreciation for institutional memory and the reality that the future belongs to young people.”
No succession debate
Sabelo said the youth league was aware of the ANC's processes and would not be drawn into succession debates yet.
“When the time is right the youth league will support the decision of the NEC to lobby for a female president to lead a collective which shall feature prominently younger leaders of the ANC.”
At a press briefing on Thursday, Sabelo challenged people to prove claims that the league had called for Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to be elected ANC president.
“We called for a woman president and I said that the ANCYL nationally has called for a female president.
“The media must have assumed that just because we were campaigning with Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, that we implied that she must be the next president.”
The league however believed she had the capacity to do the job. There were other women who would also be suitable, like former ANCYL secretary general Vuyiswa Tulelo.
He said a “generational mix” was needed in the ANC’s top six leadership structure, which was currently not the case.
