We’ll deal with EFF, new ANCYL leader

Port Shepstone – The Young Lions were ready to finally deal with the Economic Freedom Fighters, newly elected KwaZulu-Natal ANCYL chairperson Thami Ngubane said on yesterday.

Ngubane, who is also Umvoti mayor, was delivering his first address as the provincial leader of the youth league at the Ugu Sports and Leisure centre in Port Shepstone.

“The ANC needs to forget about the EFF, we’re back and we’re here to deal with them. The ANC is 103 years-old, it can’t be dealing with political toddlers. The EFF was born yesterday, it has no history and it has no future because it doesn’t have a vision.

“They’re thieves that stole our resolutions and represented them as their own ideas. They can’t think for themselves, I would equate what they’ve done to plagiarism. What’s the EFF saying that we haven’t said in the past?” asked Ngubane to loud cheers.

The fiery new leader beat his opponent Sipho Hlomuka from the eThekwini region.

The congress began 12 hours late and voting took place without six branches who had allegedly not registered in an attempt to disrupt the congress on Saturday.

Two people, believed to be in Hlomuka’s faction, were shot with rubber bullets during a standoff between the police and the disgruntled members. The six branches allegedly travelled back to Durban on Saturday night after being refused entrance to the congress venue.

“I’m also sure that our forefathers are a bit disturbed by the highest ill-discipline that we witness during this congress. What happened last night [Saturday] tells me that we haven’t rebuilt the party. We’re only starting the rebuilding process now,” said Ngubane.

“A branch can’t send you to represent them and then you get to the congress and have a caucus and decide otherwise. This means that you ignored organisational decisions and to me that’s a very serious offence.

“We want to send a clear message that the murdering of the organisation will not be allowed. We’ve no space in KZN for such behaviour and we know that these tendencies [to disrupt] won’t just end on their own, we need to put an end to them,” he said.

Ngubane said the youth league would not compromise when it comes to issues of ill-discipline.

“We need to consider going back to the basics,” he said.

“We need to play the role of being the body of opinion in the ANC. The youth league must come up with solutions. We need to bring back the culture of research and the culture of constant research of new ideas.

“We mustn’t throw around slogans and think that that will advance the revolution. We need new ideas so that we can play a role in the main body of the ANC.

“Going back to basics means that we must also have political classes. We need to build structures everywhere. Every ward must have a branch… We need to unite the ANC Youth League in the province.”

He said the issue of nationalisation of mines belonged to the ANC Youth League.

“That’s our resolution. We need to continue to persuade the ANC to nationalise the mines. It took time to convince them to form Umkhonto weSizwe and it’s going to take time to nationalise the mines,” said Ngubane.

On land he said, “We need a group of young lawyers to come together to deal with the issue of land. Those people who are being moved from their farms, the youth league must be there.”

He said the ANC government was not doing enough on the state of education in the country.

“There are no new universities in the province and yet we preach and want freed education.

“The school I went to was built way before 1994 and it’s still the same as when I left it. Nothing has changed. We need to dismantle the doings of apartheid,” said Ngubane.

Meanwhile, orruption carried out by those in government must be rooted out, former president Kgalema Motlanthe said over the weekend.

“Corruption, especially among those of us charged with the important task of governance – of ensuring that the dividends of democracy reach all our people -must be eradicated root and branch,” said Motlanthe in the ANC Today newsletter.

“Our country faces challenges of varying magnitude at this moment.”

He said many other problems were also, directly or indirectly, those “stemming from history”.

The economy was a core issue – with problems of poverty, inequality and unemployment still remaining.

Motlanthe’s comments were part of an article paying tribute to the Inkatha Freedom Party on its 40th anniversary.

“Today, South Africa is a normal democracy and the IFP is an important if not a critical element of this vibrant democracy,” he said. — Sapa