ANC Youth League calls off media briefing on election results

8 August 2016

Johannesburg - The ANC Youth League was due to share its thoughts on the local government elections results on Monday afternoon, but postponed at the last minute, citing a clash between the briefing and league president Collen Maine’s diary.

This past weekend, the ANC in Gauteng also postponed its planned address due to an urgent provincial executive committee meeting.

Three of Gauteng’s big metros are part of the 27 hung municipalities, where there was no outright winner in the municipal polls. The ANC is hoping to enter into coalitions with other political parties in order to retain power.

Insiders say the league cannot make any public statements due to a lack of clarity on the way forward, but it’s national spokesperson, Mlondi Mkhize, has said this is untrue.

"We only postponed due to a calendar clash and that the Secretary General [Njabulo Nzuza] had a family emergency," he said.

Mkhize said the league was not involved in any negotiations.

"This had nothing to do with coalition negotiations, those are up to the leadership in the mother body. That’s if any are taking place at all."

The ANC, itself, has yet to speak on the election results, but the ruling party is due to hold a National Executive Committee meeting over the weekend.

This article first appeared on News24, see here.