ANCYL PRESIDENT DEFENDS ZUMA

23 November 2015

The ANCYL has noted efforts by opposition political parties and socio-political commentators aimed at creating the impression that the President of the African National Congress Cde J.G Zuma cares less about the country.

This relates to the statement made by the President when he was addressing delegates at the KwaZulu Natal Provincial Congress of the ANC, at Pietermaritzburg, reminding them, in their thousands, about the importance of the ANC and its continuing task of prosecuting the objectives of the National Democratic Revolution, central to which the future of our country is rooted.

It would serve us well to be reminded that the ANC played a leading role in bringing about democracy into the country and it was within this context that the President emphasized the central role of the ANC in our society, doing this with view to ensuring that the ANC remains stronger and that members of the ANC must be selfless and work hard for the organization.

At all times President Zuma reminds members of the ANC and society at large, that we need to emulate leaders such as OR Tambo and Nelson Mandela who dedicated their lives to the ANC, and he does this on either platform he is offered as State President or President of the ANC,.

He would remind us of these greats seeing that OR Tambo and Madiba were the face and symbol of the struggle, whose countribution and selfless sacrifices remain to be an inspiration for the future of our country, with view to inspiring a sense of patriotism amongst the young people of our country in particular and the citizenry in general.

When the ANC ushered in a free and democratic South Africa, it also celebrated the unyielding efforts of many compatriots who made the ultimate sacrifice in their quest to liberate this country from the yoke of oppression. Compatriots of unequalled comparison whose liberation struggle credentials found rooting in the ANC.

Because of the ANC, millions of people celebrated the opportunity to elect leaders of their choice into a democratic government that represented and continue to represent their aspirations, in a multiparty democratic system.

When the President said that in a debate he had, he made it known to his comrade that, in his view, the ANC comes before the country, it was within the context of what the ANC has always represented from its formation in 1912, two years after the Union of South Africa that rendered Africans as pariahs in their own land, to this day.

For it to be the African National Congress, it assumed a holistic continental character that was focus on the entire continent being free from colonial and apartheid domination and oppression. Thus we in the ANC have embraced this continental approach which goes beyond the borders of our country and continues to be evident in the work we continue to carry out across the continent in fostering peace and bonds of human solidarity. This is the outlook that the President was referring to in that we are African before we are South African, which is the character the ANC has always embraced.

We maintain that cheap attempts aimed at discrediting the President will never succeed because we know his dedication towards this country. There is a deliberate campaign to misconstrue what the President says and this is not innocent of the political posturing trend that unfortunately has permeated our opposition in this country. Ordinary members of society who have come into contact with the President can attest to his hard working ethics and disdain for indolence behaviour.

Statement issued by President of the ANCYL, Collen Maine, 23 November 2015