#Unedited# Today marks the 70th anniversary of the ANC Youth League, an organisation with a rich history not only in struggles of young people but also in how they have changed the political landscape of this country. You will remember that it was the Youth League that lobbied the ANC successfully to pursue the armed struggle leading to the formation of Umkhonto Wesizwe of which Nelson Mandela was the first commander. This formation heralded a new era in the liberation struggle, and thus an effective means of struggle was introduced. It is this Youth League even after the unbanning that continued to radicalise the ANC, even with the calls for Economic Freedom as a struggle for not only young people but for black people as a whole, it is after this call that the ANC in Mangaung and even in the policy conference of 2012 preceding the 53rd National Conference of the ANC, that the ANC branches debated the issue of the economy and resolved that we need to deal decisively with the imbalances that occur in the economy. It is from this rich history that we must draw our inferences whenever we talk of the Youth League and as we chart a way forward. This 70th birthday however finds at a peculiar time. Though peculiar, this time is not unique in history and it must be said though that these storms the ANCYL has faced before, and they are nothing new. After the ANCYL managed to get the ANC to adopt a more radical programme of action in 1949, the period leading to that almost led to the death of the ANC as its former leaders had now become leaders of the ANC and the remaining ones went on to form the PAC, as they felt that the ANC is betraying the struggle of black people as a whole. You would also remember that the ANCYL was banned and thus young people in South Africa could not organise themselves nor could not be organised under its banner for many years. Therefore we must not be fazed at where the Youth League finds itself now as it has gone through many storms and indeed managed to arise much much stronger than before. We must however note that the 70th birthday occurs within various contexts. The first one is that the 70th birthday comes within a context of young people not active participants of an economy in their mother land, where the young white person still enjoys far better priviledges than the black youth. It is within this context that even though we tell young people to get an education, that there is no guarantee that the young person will get employed after graduating. This reality is not imagined as we sit with huge numbers of graduates that watch the sun whole day. We must understand that with high unemployment rates, the rate of youth unemployment is very high. We must understand that this 70th birthday comes at a time where even state institutions aimed at assisting young entrepreneurs are riddled with red tape and thus young black people are unable to access assistance from those institutions. Infact it is much easier for a white youth to access funding from some institutions than a black youth, because the criteria applied automatically cuts out those previously oppressed, mistreated, humiliated, and left fatherless by an unjust system. It is from this that all other problems related to youth originate. The problems of teenage pregnancy, HIV infections, illiteracy and lack of education etc The second context is that this 70th birthday comes at a transitional time for the organisation. We must remember that it was just over a year ago when the ANC NEC came to a decision to disband the NEC of the ANCYL due to many reasons amongst them is an antagonistic relationship between the ANCYL and its motherbody. You will remember in the period leading to this, the previous leadership explained the autonomy of the Youth League in such a way that was no different from it being an opposition party. This toxic relationship couldn’t be tolerated anymore. One would also remember that after the expulsion and suspension of some of its leaders, we went through a period of uncertainty where the Youth league itself was divided and was fighting amongst themselves. We will remember that it is in that period where there was neither President, SG and TG and those deputising refused to take the responsibilities therefore. This is partly what led to the disbandment. From then a national task team was set-up to take the ANCYL to a congress, and this is where we find ourselves in currently. And it is a period that we wouldn’t have liked to find ourselves in because we would have wanted to reach 70 years as a vibrant youth league. We must also commend the NTT under the leadership of Mzwandile Masina and Magasela Mzobe who held the fort in what has been hard times. The ANCYL they inherited was just on the verge of extinction. It was riddled with problems both administratively and on the ground, where the Youth League was on the verge of being liquidated and they had to spend the first few months attending court cases and fundraising so as to settle debts left by former leaders. Equally it was in this time where there was an exodus of young people from the structures who went to join an organistaion started by former leaders of the ANCYL. However under the leadership of the Convener and Coordinator they were able to steer the ship to a period of stability and the task of building branches occurred to a state where even now on the eve of conference, the YL is ready to go to congress, even though some challenges still exist. The 70th anniversary also comes at a time where the ANC faces a number of challenges externally, and some of the challenges which needed an active and vibrant and militant youth league to confront. We must note that there was a formation of the new organisation by former leaders of the ANCYL and they have made it their goal to embarrass the movement whenever they find a chance. And in years before in similar situations it has been the Youth League that has arisen and was able to tackle the enemy head on. We must note that the ANC continues to face an onslaught from the media and other right wing formations, all with the aim of weakening the ANC standing in society. This they do even with the assistance of some of our own Chapter 9 institutions, cadres we have deployed from our ranks who have fallen victim to the applause of reactionary forces and have thus blatantly made it their goal to discredit the movement. Within these context as explained above, as material conditions dictate, the young people in the forthcoming congress must decide what direction the ANCYL must take. And which strategies and tactics must be employed to ensure that we reach the destination we have set forth for ourselves. We must discuss robustly the issue of the economy so that we can go and lobby the ANC to adopt our policy positions. We must discuss the type of leadership we want as informed by a programme of action and we must rally behind the elected leadership. Leadership itself must understand that they were not elected because young people view them as nice, but because they must provide leadership. We can’t be in a transitional stage forever where our enemies do as they please in our own ground. Lastly we must be able to confront the enemy head on and we must not be afraid to express ourselves when those amongst us fail to perform in government or when some are agents of foreign elements. We must not be afraid, we remain youth and it can’t be that we must be a youth that want to behave out of character, so as to try and get media approval and approval of those who would want to see us behaving as old people, when we are young. 30 years from now we will be celebrating a 100 years of the Youth League, and it is us today that must determine the type of youth league the generations that follow will inherit. Aluta continua
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 08:42:09 +0000
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