NWC media statement
18 August 2016
The ANC Youth League has noted with great concern the 2016 Local Government Elections results. The ANC has obviously won with a clear majority having secured 53.91% of the total votes throughout the country. The ANC has secured control of more than 75.5% of the total municipalities. The concern of the Youth League is the decline on the total votes from 61.95% to 53.91% which is a decline of 8 percentage points.
The loss in the key metros like the City of Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, Greater Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni, are the most concerning because the ANC is no longer the leading party in the administrative capital of the country. The ANC Youth League has identified the key factor to this as a result of the low voter turnout on the traditional ANC bases where we win wards with overwhelming majority with a lower turnout whilst hostile grounds are won by the opposition with a high turnout.
The ANC Youth League notes that the greatest benefactor of the outcomes of the results is the White Supremacy Liberal agenda that is spearheaded by the Democratic Alliance. The ANC Youth League believes that now, more than ever, the ANC must unite and understand that the enemy is upon us. The enemy has planted a seed of disunity in the organization using the media to build a warped perception of heroes and villains within the ANC. The enemy of the White supremacy liberal agenda is the ANC and the enemy of the ANC is the White Supremacy Liberal. This agenda literally hours at the sight of power has declared intentions to scrap BEE and Affirmative action in cities in these metros.
As the ANC we can not absolve ourselves from contributing to the discontent our people have about the ANC and they have shown it by not appearing on the voting stations when the ANC needed them the most. This situation could have been avoided through the ANC delivering on its promised and resolved policy positions to make the lives of our people better like the issue of Economic Transformation that will foster Job Creation, Free Quality Higher Education for the poor, Scraping of E-Tolls and to invest in the future of young people.
The people expect only the best from the ANC to change the racial demography of our economy to absolve and uplift millions of South Africans living in poverty. It is time that those who are corrupt must suffer the consequences. The ANC can not be defined as corrupt because of people who are self serving and end up tainting the ANC and its integrity. There are people who taint the name of the organization busy drinking champagne and expensive whisky whilst they taint the name of our glorious movement. The ANC must now, more than ever, deal with the people who taint the image of the organsaiton those found guilty of corruption must be expelled from the organization.
These results are a sign of discontent our people feel about the ANC. The ANC should take these results as a lesson that if we do not deliver or delay deliver this country will be led by counter revolutionary forces. The results are also as a result of incapacity of the ANC to adapt and change our organisational design to respond to the needs of society in a speedily manner. The ANC is a strong organization it will overcome. The ANC has faced great adversity in the past where it was thought to go extinct but today we know that will not happen the ANC has always re-engineered itself and has always continued to go forward. The African National Congress will overcome and it will soldier on.
In order for the organization to live long it must transform and change the way it handles issues. The ANC Youth League will work hard to ensure that the next conference of the ANC is not contested whilst not suppressing the constitutional rights of members to stand, as this brings disunity in the organization and defocuses the organization on dangers it faces. Leadership contests in branches, regions, provinces have taken center stage in the organization compromising the organization and causing great disunity in the organization. There is a need for the ANC to redesign its leadership electoral system to disallow heavy contests that divide the organization.
The ANC Youth League believes that the structure of the NEC must be revised. The ANC Youth League believes that there is a need to reduce the size of the NEC to make it more efficient and effective and allow space for it to take decisions with speed and reduce bureaucratic behavior. There is a need to change the design of the top 6 officials and allow for Two full time Deputy Secretary Generals. we strongly believe that we must have a DSG for Organisational Development and Organizing to deal with building of structures of the ANC and building organisational capacity. There is a need for the second DSG for Monitoring and Evaluation to evaluate the work of government vis-à-vis the resolutions of the ANC.
To expand the reach of the organization the organization needs to establish Branches that are Voting District based to open the organsaiton to participation of society. A branch of the ANC must not be a holly cow for few individuals the ANC belongs to all of us. There is a need for the ANC to review its cadreship deployment policy to ensure that we deploy cadres that will fully implement policy positions of the organization that will build a better life for our organization.
The ANC must regenerate, and if it does not regenerate the situation will not improve. It is our view that the ANC must go to an early conference. We do not support the call made by the Gwede Mantashe of people resigning if he wants to resign he must do so alone. The ANC Youth League believes that all the current NEC members must come to an early conference to account. The early conference must not be contested and there is a need to introduce Young leaders to the officials and the overall leadership contingent of the ANC.
The ANC must reflect the demographics of the country it can not be that in the NEC there are only two people below the age of 40 and they are representing the ANC Youth League. This creates a disjoint with young people. We would like to thank the Provinces of Mpumalanga, Kwazulu Natal and the Free State that have taken young people serious and adhered to the compliant of the 20% minimum of young people even in the deployment in councils. The ANC Youth League believes that those provinces that have not done this must be dragged to the NEC to account (Mabalibambe lingashoni). The time for young people to negotiate with the old guard is over.
This is not a time for populism but a time for the ANC to regenerate itself. This is not a time to cast doubt on each other but it is a time to note that the glorious movement of our people is under siege. This is a time to stand hand in hand and believe in each other because the enemy is united. There are those who are opportunistic and lack thinking capacity who say the bad performance on elections is because of President Zuma. We would like to categorically put it clear that attributing the poor performance to a single person is opportunistic and lacks honesty. President Zuma is the president of the ANC and will remain so till the next national conference of the ANC.
The ANC Youth League notes that there were a number of incidences of manipulating processes, this created disunity in the organization. The culprits who manipulated processes must be dealt thoroughly, especially in Gauteng. They must be expelled, they do not respect the organization, they misled the organization, they are selfish. This overhaul must start from the bottom right to the highest office dealing with the lists.
The ANC Youth League would like to categorically put it that we support Caster Semenya in her bid for gold and she must not be victimized. The ANC Youth League also congratulates Wayde Van Niekerk and other sports athletes that have represented us well in the Rio Olympics. We would like to further pay our respects to Cde. Makhenkesi Sitofile who have played a huge role in the struggle for the liberation of our people.
The ANC Youth League would like to thank all those who voted for the ANC and barricaded the offensive of the counter revolutionary White Supremacy Liberal Agenda. We would like to thank young people who came out to vote and particularly those who voted for the ANC. We would like to thank volunteers of the organization who worked tirelessly for the organization. It is time for the Young people of this country to realize that one of our greatest and most valuable asset that carries of our dreams and aspirations is in danger and Young people must unite and join the ANCYL and the ANC to lead a revolution to re-build re-energize and re-generate the ANC.
Issued by Mlondi Mkhize, ANCYL National Spokesperson, 18 August 2016
