Introduction

Today almost every loyal member of the African National Congress accept that, the decision by the National Executive Committee to disband the African National Congress Youth League saved the movement from counter-revolutionaries - that is, a group of people who claimed to be revolutionaries but who had in reality distorted our revolution to serve the interest of an embryonic capitalist class, people who deliberately made the ANCYL what it should not be; an opposition to the ANC.

On one question, however, there is a still disagreement, namely, what should be the role of the ANCYL in the current phase of the struggle? This question must be answered with extra care and exact, beyond the usual rhetoric's of evoking the twin task of the Youth League as an explanation of it role. This necessitates a detailed explanation of the ANCYL role which takes into account it accumulated history, the challenges of the youth reflecting broader social ills and intrinsic challenges of poverty, unemployment, inequality and the task confronting the National Democratic Revolution and organizational renewal process.

Accordingly, this article seeks to debunk the myth that central to the revival of the ANC YL must be an attempt to speak English like the modern day political clown called Lindiwe Mazibuko and that the Youth League can only attract youth vote for the ANC if it mimic "professionals" and speak good English as oppose to the previous woodwork clot.

A glimpse on our history

A successful organization employs strategies that attract its core constituency and respond to it needs and aspirations, while understanding that everything is in the state of constant change just like everything that is under the sun. Organizations must be the reflections of what they seek to build in the society and employ different tactics to realize their strategic objective. The ANCYL is the youth wing of the ANC which is the leader of all forces that seek to realize National Democratic Society through the National Democratic Revolution. Therefore, its formation was of a particular purpose in the history of our country ant that of the ANC itself.

The formation of the ANCYL was so that it reinforces the ANC on it historical mission of creating a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa, whilst bringing the youth into revolutionary action to take responsibility for the offensive against the Colonialism of the Special Type and what was later to follow, apartheid policies. At its inception, the ANCYL made the declaration that the African had lost all faith in white trusteeship over the black majority, and Africans in particular and made the assertion that the African "rejects the theory that because he is non-White and because he is a conquered race, he must be exterminated.

The demands included the right to be a free citizen in the South African democracy; the right to an unhampered pursuit of his national identity and the freedom to make his legitimate contribution to human development". As correctly contended by the 22nd National Congress Organization Report of the ANCYL "in averring that, the African had lost all faith in all talk of Trusteeship, the ANCYL then affirmed that the Africans had now elected to determine their own future by their own efforts. In this way, the ANCYL declared that the African had invoked their birthright to revolution."

The ANCYL was formed at a critical time of history when African youth in particular were increasingly searching for a more radical path to freedom. It first and for most positioned itself as a mass political youth organisation of the ANC that reinforces the programmes of the ANC in society, and reproduces the ideas of the ANC among the youth by bringing the youth into struggle for national freedom under the broad political ambit of the ANC.

Its formation was, first and foremost a response to the needs of young people at that time, by which it defended the ANC against its critics and therefore reinforcing it in its historic mission. In its own words in the 1944 Manifesto, the ANCYL was not to be "allowed to detract the youth's attention from the organisation of Congress. In this regard, it is the first step to ensure that the African youth has direct connections with the leadership of Congress".

In 1948, the ANCYL published its Basic Policy Documents, in which it expounded the its aims as, inter alia, (a) rallying and uniting the African youth into one national front on the basis of African Nationalism; (b) giving force, direction and vigour to the struggle for African National Freedom, by assisting, supporting and reinforcing the National Movement - ANC; (c) studying the political, economic and social problems of Africa and the world and (d) striving and working for the educational, moral and cultural advancement of African youth".

From its inception the ANCYL understood it mission as that of being soldiers of the ANC working in youth section. It understood that the immediate programme of the ANC was the attainment of freedom thus devoted all its energies and skills at its disposal in the realization of freedom. This was better summarized by it agitation slogan "Freedom in our life time". All the Actions of the 1944 generation which we cannot re-write given space limitation can then be better understood as having been informed by this agitation slogan which was in any way a historical mission of the ANC.

It is the very same slogan that has been (mis)amended - given the second phase of the transition - to be socio-economic freedom in our lifetime. Hence no right thinking person except if one is too desperate or suffers from cognitive dissonance would claim this amended slogan belongs to them.

Mandela Generation: Myth and Reality

The modern day challenges confronting young people are better captured by the recent findings released by Statistics South Africa which indicated that 49% of the young people are not employed, that 65.1% of children up to the age of 18 live in families that earn less than R650 per month, that 60.2% of young people raging between the age of 18 -25 make up the majority of the so-called Mandela Generation. This is the reality as opposed to the myth.

The careful reading of the 2011 Census report reveals the reality that the significant majority of South Africans are under 35 years of age living in households that receive low-incomes, majority of whom come from rural areas who do not even have a grade 12 qualification. In addition to that, the report has unveiled how 35% of South African minors live in households without any employed members, and that 28.6% of them do not have sufficient food. These challenges could be viewed as external from the ANC Youth League, but it is from this constituency that the ANCYL largely recruits its membership.

The ANC has already identified triple challenges facing our country, which are unemployment, inequality and poverty. If historical, the task of the ANCYL has been to re-force the mission of the ANC, then it is in fighting these challenges amongst the youth that the ANCYL will attract ANC vote amongst the youth. The reality of our country and the state of the youth is well painted by the National Development Plan; it is a very disturbing and humiliating portrait. It is for these reasons that a call for a radical change, for a militant and radical youth leadership for social transformation will find solace amongst young people.

So what was wrong with Malema Brigade?

The 24th National Congress of the ANCYL made correct analyses of the challenges faced by our country and thus correctly resolved on a struggle for radical distribution of wealth beneath the soil as echoed by the Freedom Charter. There is no doubt that this clarion call has found support amongst the youth who are at the receiving end of all challenges faced by our country.

The agitation slogan for ‘economic freedom in our life time' and a more programmatic response to it makes the Progressive Youth Alliance in general and specifically the ANC YL more relevant than ever before. In other words, the ANC YL's twin task of (a) serving as body of opinion within the ANC and reinforcing it through rallying young people behind its strategic vision and (b) championing the interest of young people as a way of responding to the already mentioned challenges confronting the youth strengthened our formations.

However the ANC YL has been faced with otherwise preventable challenges such as: substitution and the relegation of political logic and robust but comradely debates to name-calling; politics of money and greedy (sic); member of other members; ill-discipline, anarchy, factionalism and sidestepping organizational processes with impunity became the norm within the ANCYL.

Additionally, the internal challenges of the ANC YL also included the marginalization of politically-clear cadres in favour of (politically weak) new members who are easy prey for manipulation; ANC YL presenting itself as an independent opposition from within the ANC; the vicious attack towards or dissolution of those holding different views; gate-keeping; divisions; manipulation of membership; patronage political accumulation (i.e. the use of the organization to accumulate wealth to overcome personal inconveniences such as unemployment) and doing everything to undermine the ANC and its President, Cde Jacob Zuma destroyed the imaged of the YL.

Conclusion: The Role of the ANCYL in the Current Phase of the Struggle

As a way concluding, the ANC 53rd Conference observed "with deep concern [that] the state of the Youth League and its increasingly antagonistic relationship with its mother-body, seemingly defining itself outside of the political framework of the ANC. It also notes the state of the NEC with key acting positions, and the emerging tendency in the League at different levels to recall and suspend members without due process." Thus it resolved that "the incoming NEC (National Executive Committee) to urgently intervene to address the situation of the ANC Youth League.

The incoming NEC must, amongst other things, take all necessary measures to ensure that the League plays its proper role and acts within the policy and Constitution". The revival of the ANC YL is very important since it would mutually reinforce the renewal of the ANC itself but also to mobilize the scores of young people most of whom will be voting for the first time in 2014.

The Task Teams must be under no illusion that the majority of the prospective ‘first-time-youth' voters are ‘coconuts' who either reside in urban areas or come from well-to-do families since the 2011 Census report - cited above - debunks the myth that central to the revival of the ANC YL must be an attempt to Americanize the ANC YL. The reality is that the ANC YL's revival program must appeal to the significant majority of youth under 35 years of age who live in households that receive low-incomes as already alluded to in the preceding paragraphs.

The ANC YL must continue to push radical youth demands, which are in anyway those of the society. The Youth League must be nothing else but the parliament of the young people. We must see the society we seek to build within us. We need unity in action for a better and prospering society for all the youth of our country; Black, Indian, Coloured and White. The future of our country belongs to all the youth who live in it irrespective of their colour.

This unity will never be built through fracturing or dividing young people on the basis of who they are and what their colour is. Youth formations, especially within the national progressive fold, have the responsibility of championing the historical mandate of the ANC and the Alliance, that of transforming our society into a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic society. We hold, as the ANCYL, the responsibility of ensuring that the youth are "liberated from economic and political" bondage, especially those who were historically oppressed.

Lastly, central to the restoration of the ANC YL is to give practical meaning to the Decade of the Cadre by deliberately ensuring that ANC values of selflessness; self-respect; respect for the elders; revolutionary discipline; constructive criticism; self-criticism are popularized amongst the youth. These values are more important if we are to produce young people who are not suffering from the "me-first-everyone-else-after" mentality. In order words, the revival of the ANC YL is not about being relevant to a minority of ‘coconuts' but it is about moving beyond resuscitating Congress resolutions.

The ANC YL's revival program must also be about reminding the Youth that their duty is to learn, learn and learn as instructed by Lenin. This learning must be coupled with ideological clarity in terms of the youth role towards achieving the National Democratic Society through the National Democratic Revolution. The entitlement mentality must also be busted asunder and be replaced with a spirit of being a people's servants with no interest except to recognize that the real reason for the existence of the ANC and its leagues is to serve our people

Mafika Damane Mndebele: is a member of YCLSA National Committee and Regional Co-ordinator of the ANC YL Emalahleni Region, while Thembinkosi ‘Guerrilla' Zondi is ANC branch secretary in Moses Mabhida Region and ANC KZN legislature Senior Researcher

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