ANCYL elective conference gets underway
The ANC Youth League’s 25th national conference is set to get underway in Midrand, Johannesburg on Friday, after numerous postponements and court cases by disgruntled members.
The latest court bid to stop the conference from going ahead was dismissed in the North Gauteng High Court on Thursday evening.
Thabo Arafat Molamu and others from the ANCYL in the North West approached the court, on the eve of the congress, to stop proceedings alleging that there were irregularities in auditing of branches.
The group said they had exhausted all internal processes and had no choice but to go to court.
Judge Moses Mavundla ruled that the application was not urgent and dismissed it with cost.
The league’s national task team welcomed the ruling, and added that the court bid was an attempt to undermine efforts to build the league.
”It has been the view of the NTT from the onset, that there were no grounds for the interdict based on, supposed, unresolved disputes. The NTT has endeavored to ensure that all disputes were resolved by an independent team that received all disputes from all provinces and dealt with them impartially,” the NTT said.
“This rushed interdict was clearly calculated to undermine the process of rebuilding and re-establishing the ANCYL at a national level by individuals who we suspect have a different agenda from that of the organisation.”
The league’s last leadership, led by Julius Malema, was dissolved in 2013. Malema, who formed his own political party, the Economic Freedom Fighters, was expelled from the African National Congress Youth League in 2012 for bringing the party into disrepute.
The ANCYL national task team was appointed by the ANC to build the fractured youth organisation’s structures. Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa was the coordinator of the NTT, while Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula was the convenor.
The run up to the presidential race for the league saw North West MEC of Human Settlements Collen Maine being nominated by most provinces. Former ANCYL treasurer Pule Mabe, Lesego Makhubela from the Tshwane region and former deputy president Ronald Lamola are also presidential hopefuls.
South African Deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa is scheduled to address the conference on Friday, while Mbalula would later deliver the organisation’s political overview.