ANC YOUTH LEAGUE STATEMENT ON NEC LEKGOTLA OF JANUARY 31 2010
The African National Congress Youth League National Executive Committee Lekgotla happened from the 29th of January to the 1st of February 2010 in Misty Hills Country Hotel. The NEC Lekgotla was attended by ANC Youth League's 9 Provincial Executive Committees and Regional Executive Committees.
The NEC Lekgotla was addressed by the Deputy President of the ANC, Comrade Kgalema Motlanthe, who with excellence educated the leadership of the ANC Youth League about the political, organisational and ideological character of the ANC as a united National Liberation Movement. Comrade Kgalema Motlanthe is a true revolutionary and disciplined cadre of the ANC and the ANC YL will always by guided by his teachings and hold him in high regard. The NEC Lekgotla resolved and consolidated concrete and coherent perspectives on the ANC YL, the ANC, and South Africa's organisational, ideological and political direction. Central to the issues we agreed upon are the following issues:
Nationalisation of Mines
The NEC Lekgotla finalised and adopted a detailed perspective (see here) on the Nationalisation of Mines in South Africa. The Lekgotla agreed that the ANC Youth League's perspective on the Nationalisation of Mines is a coherent, concrete and decisive perspective on how Mines will be nationalised in South Africa.
Guided by the aims and objectives of the Freedom Charter, the ANC Youth League conceptualisation of Nationalisation of Mines is that it should result in the "the democratic government's ownership and control of Mining activities, including exploration, extraction, production, processing, trading and beneficiation of Mineral Resources in South Africa. Minerals Resources refer to all the more than 50 non-renewable precious, industrial and chemical stones extracted from Mines in South Africa. This includes but not limited to Gold, Platinum Group Metals, Chrome, Coal, Manganese, Diamond, Copper, Metals, Aluminium, and many other Minerals.
We specifically emphasise that Nationalisation of Mines' includes the following:
1. Should be accompanied by a thorough transformation of state owned enterprises.
2. Not generalised nationalisation, as it can assume various forms: it can be 100% public ownership, or 51% or more owned by the state, or established through partnership arrangements with the private sector.
3. Will involve expropriation with or without compensation.
4. Not meant to bail out indebted Mining Corporations.
The Freedom Charter guides out programme towards Nationalisation of Mines, but we specifically emphasise the following reasons why nationalisation should happen:
a) Nationalisation to increase the State's revenue and better the working conditions. Mine workers should be adequately paid and their work conditions improved.
b) Nationalisation as a basis for industrialisation to create more sustainable jobs for our people.
c) Nationalisation as a means to safeguard sovereignty,
d) Nationalisation as a basis to transform accumulation path in the South African economy, so that we are overly dependent on the exportation of natural resources and importation of finished goods and services.
e) Nationalisation to transform South Africa's unequal spatial development patterns, so that all communities with economic potential are given necessary attention in terms of development.
For Nationalisation to happen, the discussion document we adopted out of this Lekgotla specifically proposes the following.
1. The State should establish a Mining Company, which will control the country's mineral resources and bring together all the country's mining interests. Importantly, the State Owned Mining Company should attract the best of skills, expertise and knowledge on how best minerals are extracted, produced, beneficiated and traded for the mineral resources in South Africa.
2. The State should adopt an Expropriation Model, which will specify how the State should expropriate economic activities with or without compensation.
3. The State should amend the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act to include a clause that compels all Mining Corporations to enter into a partnership with the State for Mining Licence. The Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act compels the applying for Mining Rights to have not less than 30% equity ownership and control by historically disadvantaged individuals. Whilst not eroding the initial intention, the MPRDA should be amended to say the Corporations applying for mining in South Africa should be in partnership with the State Owned Mining Company, wherein the State owns not less than 60% of the shares and right of determination.
The amended Act should apply to new mining licences and all those who seek to renew their licenses. In order to have a clearer regulatory framework on this principle, the South African government should place a moratorium on the issuing of licences until the Act has been amended. The process to amend the Act should be an open democratic process involving all stakeholders and should happen immediately after the ANC National General Council in September 2010.
The ANC Youth League will in the next few months engage all stakeholders in the country to persuade them about the programme towards Mines' Nationalisation. We will engage alliance partners, particularly COSATU and the SACP, business organisation and the Chamber of Mines in the programme towards consolidation. We will also visit countries that have greater control of strategic sectors of their economies. We will organize workshops across the country to induct our structures on the nationalisation document.
MILITARY RESERVISTS
The ANC YL should at some stage develop necessary and adequate capacity to assist people in need not only in South Africa, but across the world. This therefore calls upon the youth to have the necessary discipline and patriotism and appreciate that humanity should be protected and given dignity at all times.
The South African National the ANC YL will lead society and all young people to join the South African National Defence Force Reservists programme. We need as this generation of youth a clearly defined programme, which will empower young people with military skills and capacity so that they are able to contribute to conflict resolution, peacekeeping and humanitarian work across the world, but also be in a position to defend South Africa at all times. As revolutionary activists, we have a responsibility to appreciate the significance of national security and must always be on guard to defend the hard won freedom and democracy and fight crime in communities.
SOCCER WORLD CUP
In 2010, South Africa will be hosting the prestigious soccer tournament, the FIFA Soccer World Cup, which is signified by the reality that Africa as a continent is hosting this activity for the first time. How South Africa hosts the World Cup will go a long way in defining and redefining the perceptions and misperceptions people in the world have about Africa. All members and structures of the ANC YL, including branches, sub-regions, regions and provinces will come up with a tangible, concrete programme on how we host a successful, fun and safe Soccer World Cup. These programmes will also consolidate the ANC Youth League's leadership of all young people in our communities. The reality of the situation is that most of our people, including opposition parties, expect leadership from the ANC and when it comes to youth issues, the Youth League should be at the forefront. The World Cup will be a successful activity and all South Africans will play a role.
INTERNATIONAL WORK
The ANC YL will be sending a delegation led by its Deputy Secretary General to Lebanon from the 2ND to the 7TH of February 2010 to the WFDY general council whose aim is to take a decision on hosting the World Festival for Youth and Students. This will also help to tell the long standing history between WFDY and the National Liberation Movement in South Africa. WFDY opposed apartheid for a very long time and its existence should forever be consolidated to oppose any form of injustice across the world. Whilst appreciating our participation in the International Union of Socialist Youth, we should take a conscious decision to revive and strengthen our participation in WFDY, because that is where our ideas of a just society are properly and uncompromisingly expressed. In IUSY we have an organisation that is struggling to find itself, and we risk the chances of sharing platforms with reactionary organisations, such the Young Labour, a youth wing of the imperialist Labour Party from Britain. Whatever can be said about the Labour Party, the reality is that it betrayed the post colonial Zimbabwe and most of the problems faced in Zimbabwe currently are linked to the betrayal by the Labour Party on the land question. We should continue to work within IUSY with the intention of giving it a revolutionary programme.
BUILDING THE ORGANISATION
The Lekgotla appreciated the fact that the origination has grown significantly and since we took office in 2008, and further mandated us to ensure that we increase our recruitment campaign in order to reach a million in 2012 as we approach the centenary of the ANC. This will ensure that we make a positive contribution towards building a non-racial, democratic, non-sexist South Africa.
The ANC YL will over the next few months focus and intensify the following campaigns and programmes:
- Provision of Free quality Sanitary Towels
- Campaign against the abuse of alcohol, drugs and substances
- The Green South Africa Campaign aimed at preserving and protecting our environment from destruction
- ANC YL will work towards the establishment of the Education Development trust to enhance skills development and empowerment of young people for improvement of better access to education
- More distribution of condoms at schools and other public institutions
From the Lekgotla, we have confirmed that the ANC Youth League continues to be the most vibrant, robust and focused youth political organisation in the South Africa. Our focus from this Lekgotla is our National General Council this year and our elective Congress in 2011.
Statement issued by the ANC Youth League, February 1 2010
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