- Zizi Kodwa has criticised young people in the ANC, saying they have not made their voices heard during the Covid-19 pandemic.
- He says they must stop thinking that being in the ANC is a love-affair.
- Some youth league leaders hit back, blaming the party for its woes.
ANC national executive member and deputy state security minister Zizi Kodwa has decried the lack of action by young people in the party helping the country navigate the coronavirus crisis.
Kodwa told News24 the ANC Youth League in the past was never mute on key issues and agitated, even against the wishes of senior leaders, to get their way.
"The lack of a firebrand, that dynamism and radical militancy is notably visible," Kodwa told News24, specifically referring to the ANC Youth League.
The NEC member and former ANCYL leader made the comments on Wednesday, a day after he delivered a June 16 address on the role of young people during the pandemic and bridging the digital divide in eThekwini on Tuesday.
He said in the midst of growing coronavirus infections and deaths, the country remained a hotbed for crime, with women and children being the most vulnerable.
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And while Covid-19 hotspots were expected to grow so too would economic devastation. He said contributions from the youth were needed now more than ever.
"More than ever, the youth's contribution to the solution is needed. Not only as queue marshals in ensuring social distance or lockdown regulations, but as brains behind the fight of Covid-19 through technology as presented by the opportunities of 4IR (Fourth Industrial Revolution),” said Kodwa.
But his views that the league is subdued has been met with some resistance, with some ANCYL members blaming more senior members for this.
"The ANC has placed its knee on the Youth League. In 2015 the ANC turned the youth league into a paramilitary organisation where its leaders became toy soldiers to be used in ANC factional battles," said Tshwane ANCYL chairperson Lesego Makhubela.
He said the league had long established its "generational mission", referring to the 2011 Gallagher Estate conference, which saw now EFF president Julius Malema being re-elected as its leader and the league adopting a resolution of economic emancipation in their lifetime.
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Focusing his attention on navigating the global pandemic, Makhubela said his region had been working to keep members "enthused", throughout the lockdown.
The ANCYL in Tshwane established virtual lectures and shared books among members for political education, while also engaging them on issues such as the global phenomenon around the killing of African Americans.
The league, which has not been able to hold its 26th national elections was disbanded again in 2018 with a national youth task team (NYTT) comprising of former leaders placed in charge of helping the structure elect new leadership.
ANCYL NYTT spokesperson Sizophila Mkhize, who spoke in her own capacity, said the structure had been trying to find a space to be heard during the health and economic crisis, including paying attention to the needs of child-headed homes.
She also expressed concern over the uncertainty the pandemic has brought to young people, with regard to jobs and education.
Mkhize, like Makhubela blamed the mother body for the ANCYL's fate.
"I think the ANC has played a very big role to be where we are as the youth league today, where we are seen to not have a big voice or influence over young people," she remarked.
She also traced the league challenges to the 2011 conference, saying events following that event have made it difficult for the league to execute its tasks on behalf of young people.
"People want to compare us to the league of Peter Mokaba; there is a big difference, we now fear being suspended and even expelled from the organisation," she said, referring to the late firebrand who once served as president of the young lions, as the league had often been referred to over the years.
Mkhize also said she suspected some of the older generation in the party were happier with a muted youth league.
Manna from heaven
But Kodwa pointing the finger back at the young in the organisation says some seem to think because the ANC is in power it means their answers to wishes should "fall like manna from heaven".
"This is not possible, nothing will fall. You must demand the issues of young people be heard," said Kodwa.
He encouraged the youth to speak, even if there is an attempt to muzzle them by those in the mother-body.
"This is not a love-affair relationship; hence we talk about being militant and being radical but disciplined," said the NEC member.
ANCYL Ekurhuleni regional coordinator and the youngest member of Parliament, Collen Malatji supports Kodwa's view, saying it's been 10 years of the league's members blaming its seniors for the state of the organisation.
"The biggest mistake we must not do as a generation is to give our responsibility to the old guard. Rhetoric that they did such and such must come to an end," said Malatji.
He said many young people needed to come to the party and realise they did not need permission to play their role in the organisation.
Malatji, who has been pegged by some as a potential leader of the ANCYL when it eventually elects a leader said it was high time young people contest for positions in the ANC directly.
"It's important for us to contest the ANC directly, take it over from the old guard who have no new ideas," said Malatji.
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