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ANCYL sets up team of lawyers as it prepares members for national conference

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ANCYL sets up team of lawyers as it prepares members for national conference

ANCYL sets up team of lawyers as it prepares members for national conference

25th May 2018

By: News24Wire

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The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) has resolved to take its members to a national elective congress in September.

"We are due for conference in September – we had initially taken a decision to have the conference in June, but because we have to make sure structures are ready we then moved it to 6 to 11 September," ANCYL secretary general Njabulo Nzuza said.

The much-anticipated congress among young ANC members is where a new leadership collective will be elected, following the 2015 conference which saw Collen Maine become the league’s president. This, after two years of being placed under interim leadership by its mother body.

The young lions' executive, which was once led by current Economic Freedom Fighters president Julius Malema, was disbanded in 2013, a year after Malema’s ousting from the party.

Nzuza told News24 the league’s national executive committee was expecting branch general meetings to start at the end of June, but that the national executive committee had also tasked his office in dealing with provinces and regions where there might be challenges.

"Especially in Gauteng, Limpopo, Eastern Cape and in the North West where the structures are not entirely there… we do have [the] membership, but we need to make sure we have the right structures," said Nzuza.

He also said they had noted the numerous court battles that provinces had to deal with in the lead-up to the ANC’s December 2017 national conference, and wanted to prepare the league for the possibility of similar challenges.

"We are going to be setting up a legal team, because there is a new trend in the movement that a person loses, even on non-substantial issues, [and] immediately they want to go to court," he said.

"We will have a legal team that deals with court challenges that may come up immediately. And [with] those who bring unnecessary legal challenges, we make sure [that when] they go to court, we defend the organisation and charge them with cost."

The league has often been criticised and described as "proxies" or even "henchmen" of certain leaders in the party.

It is also accused by some of failing to rebuild the organisation, but Nzuza says that’s not true. He told News24 it had around 400 000 members, and their figures were expected to peak as time for the conference drew nearer.

He said the ANCYL had 3 400 branches and needed to get 3 141 to their conference in order for it to go ahead successfully.

"We must make sure the process of regeneration and new leadership is a fair and transparent process where everyone is given a fair chance [and] members feel free to exercise their rights. We don’t want any extra-terrestrial influence in the processes [sic]," said Nzuza, who decried the role of senior party leaders in the youth formation.

Several names have already been mentioned as Maine’s possible successors. These include KwaZulu-Natal ANCYL secretary Thanduxolo Sabelo, current ANCYL treasurer general Reggie Nkabinde and ANCYL NEC member Ndumiso Mokako.

"The ANC does not have a right to influence who must lead the ANCYL and I must particularly warn them, because there is this tendency of the leaders of the ANC wanting to lead with their preferred people in the regions, provinces and so on."

He added that such a move created divisions among young people.

"We don’t want that thing. We don’t want a third hand to be attached, or people who come with strings."

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