In the final part of my open letter to members of the ANCYL, I look at the options open to Youth League members who have come to the conclusion that the ANC National Disciplinary Committee ruling on ANCYL leaders was fair. (To comment on the letter, please go to its first part.)
Street art by Faith47 in a series of works depicting the Freedom Charter. This one is in Benrose, Johannesburg.
You’ve looked at the points for and against the ANC NDC ruling and have come to the conclusion that it is, on the whole, fair. Members of the ANCYL top leadership are guilty as charged and, by implication, you are also guilty of those charges for failing to hold your leadership to account.
Allow me, first of all, to congratulate you for your courage in reaching what I see as the only honest, logical conclusion that can be drawn from this sorry mess. You’ve taken the first step on the road to not only clearing your name of the “harmful” label with which the ruling tainted you, but also to restoring the YL to its former stature as an organisation which serves the people, instead of robbing them.
You’ve got your work cut out for you, though. Here’s your situation at the moment: the same leaders who have brought you and the League into disrepute are still in charge, and they’ve launched an attack on ANC structures and leaders in your name to try and save their fat-cat careers.
Doing nothing means you have no objection to these attacks and all the other mischief they’re making in your name. Obviously you can’t allow that. What can you do?
Throw the bums out!
I believe your aim should be to get rid of the entire ANCYL NEC. These people have been hand-picked by Mr. Malema on a slate that was elected unopposed. They’re his people. They’ve done his bidding until now, and they continue to do so, even if it means publicly attacking the League’s mother body. They’re the people responsible for bringing the entire YL into disrepute – it happened on their watch.
And now they’re propagating the harebrained, self-serving “independence from the ANC” scheme in your name.
There should be no place for such “leaders” in the YL.
How to throw the bums out
According to the latest (disputed) version of the YL constitution, an Extra-Ordinary Congress can be called if a two-thirds majority of provinces request it. That’s six provinces.
It may seem like a daunting task at this stage to mobilise from branch level to get YL Provincial Executive Committees behind such a demand, but don’t be discouraged: in politics 24 hours is a long time. I’m sure many other YL members share your concerns about the war which the YL NEC seems intent on waging against the ANC (“gloves off”, “the enemy”, etc).
The YL NEC is skating on thin ice with this campaign and concerns among members can quickly turn into overwhelming demands for the leadership to call an Extra-Ordinary Congress and to resign en masse.
The important thing is to start with the groundwork at branch level to bring this about. You can’t afford to wait for the outcome of the appeal: only an opportunist waits to see how the wind blows before deciding what is right and wrong. So turning against the current YL NEC only after the appeal has failed – as is likely to happen – won’t rid you of the “harmful” label.
And you can expect the Appeals Committee to deal with the appeal without delay – it must be a major embarrassment for the party to see attacks launched on its leaders from within its own ranks, not to mention the infighting in the YL.
So you have to act now.
Conclusion
My hope is that the disciplinary action against a few of the ringleaders of what I see as a counter-revolutionary formation in the bosom of the ANC (people trying to reverse the gains of our democratic revolution for their selfish interests) signals the beginning of changes that could usher in a new era for the party and the country: An era of more responsible, accountable politics, instead of the vicious scheming and plotting for power and wealth that is the norm now.
The battle won’t be easy and victory is far from certain, but I believe it’s worth a shot. I hope you do too.
CatsBell's Views on the News 