The ANCYL leadership must not allow itself to be distracted by side shows of miserable clowns in the political wilderness, and must instead be steadfast on principle. As an important and critical voice within the ANC, the ANCYL has a historic duty to safeguard the long standing values and principles of the ANC.
We must approach every political question with a sound theoretical base that will implore us to defend our future in the ANC. We must never be lackeys of any individual leader, neither must we arrogate to ourselves the status of being arrogant deviants.
The period we are currently going through is a very difficult one. The ANCYL has lost almost all respect amongst many important sectors and sections of our movement and society. A certain tendency of personality cult and self-serving political culture contributed immensely to our current state of affairs.
Now that we are trying to clean up the mess, the ghosts from our past are coming back with their loud mouths calling us traitors and sellouts, trying to drag us ten steps backwards. They seek to obliterate whatever little integrity the ANCYL has left. We must never allow that under our watch!
Fact is, as we go to Mangaung, there is absolutely nothing wrong with our leadership preferences, from whichever side of the debate. Provided those preferences are not treated as Chinese Walls that block any political intercourse amongst members of the ANC. Accordingly, the ANCYL should seek to influence other ANC members on its positions and leadership preferences, and equally let those members to influence it as well. Otherwise the mutually exclusive slates we have seen consolidating will become permanent, thus leading to the demise of the ANC as we know it.
Further, the ANCYL must never forget that, what is important for the ANC Mangaung Conferences is something bigger than the leadership question. For instance, we need to come up with practical suggestions on how we can transform the ANC into a 21st Century political party of liberation.