New ANCYL leaders will have to manage factionalism, says Cyril Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa has hailed the governing party’s youth formation for eventually concluding a successful elective conference after an eight-year hiatus.

Delivering the closing remarks in Nasrec, Johannesburg, on Sunday, Ramaphosa lamented the arduous journey it took to reach this point.

“It has taken many task teams and interim committees, forward and backward movement. The absence of the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) was quite obvious in the muted dynamism of our recent campaigns. The revival of youth structures represents a fundamental pillar of the overall renewal and rebuilding of the revolutionary movement,” he said.

Without a militant, vibrant and disciplined youth movement that is responsive to the needs of young people, the ANC may eventually lose the ability to grow and renew itself, Ramaphosa said.

“The youth league has the responsibility of harnessing the energies of young people to lend vigour and dynamism to the process of social transformation. It acts as a school for imparting theory and practical experience to young people who align themselves with the policies of the ANC.”

The league is tasked with organising and campaigning around issues of special interest to young people and broader questions of social transformation, he said, guided by the strategy, tactics and policies of the movement.

He reminded delegates of the rich history they were inheriting, saying they were heirs to a proud and distinguished legacy.

“You stand on the shoulders of giants of the liberation movement and you must stretch every sinew to ensure you live up to proud and militant traditions bestowed upon you by comrades such as Anton Lembede.

“The young lions of 1944 wanted to change the nature of resistance from passive deputations to mass boycotts and a more militant programme of action. Many of these young leaders would go on to become outstanding leaders of the ANC itself and succeeded in changing the history of our movement and our country.”

Ramaphosa told the newly elected executive that they were called upon to define for themselves what it means to be a vibrant, strong, autonomous, militant and disciplined youth league of the ANC.

“The league is not merely an auxiliary or appendage of the ANC but should have an organisational and administrative life of its own. This means the right of the league to convene and hold its own conferences, take resolutions which affect it and its programmes, and to elect its own leadership.”

However, the president reiterated that this leeway was regarding organisational autonomy, not political autonomy. Therefore, he said, the ANCYL must adhere to the policy, political programme, strategy and tactics and ideological view of the ANC.

“On the other hand, the ANC always welcomes those ANCYL political positions that help to enrich its own policies. In cases where conference and other leading structures of the ANCYL take decisions which affect the political positions of the ANC, those positions are subject to endorsement, modification or even disapproval by the national executive committee of the ANC,” he said. 

There were a number of key tasks ahead, Ramaphosa said, namely, rebuilding and renewing the ANCYL as the preferred leader of young people in SA; mobilising young people for economic freedom and social change; and rallying young people for a decisive victory for the governing party in the 2024 elections.

“It is undeniable that the absence of elected national leadership has had a negative effect on the ability of the young lions to effectively lead young people in South Africa. That period is hopefully at an end today. The leadership of the youth league will now have to do the hard and thorough organisational work to rebuild structures, embark on membership drives and engage in political education to recruit young people.”

Ramaphosa warned that the new office bearers would have to deal with negative tendencies that have crept into their party structures over a long period, such as factionalism, gatekeeping and the use of money. 

“The ANC is optimistic that now that there is an elected leadership of the ANCYL, there will be new impetus and drive to mobilise young people on behalf of our movement.”

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