ANC needs new blood: Mashatile
Image by: MOHAU MOFOKENG
Arts and Culture Minister Paul Mashatile yesterday called for radical change in the ANC leadership at the party's elective conference in Mangaung in December.
Speaking at the ANC Youth League's 68th anniversary celebrations in Thembelihle, Lenasia, south of Johannesburg, Mashatile said: "We must renew our leadership and make sure that when we elect leaders in Mangaung ... we bring in the new generation of leaders."
To applause, Mashatile said "radical change" was needed to ensure that in 18 or 20 years people could look back and say "We have a better life".
"At the conference we must adopt radical policies. Let us go there and renew the organisation," he said.
He said the future of the country was in the hands of the youth league.
"We are saying to our young leaders, it is your responsibility to make sure you bring about change ... so that people can have a better life."
Earlier, Gauteng youth league secretary Ayanda Kasa-Ntsobi said the ANC needed "decisive leadership that was not afraid of its people".
She led the crowd in cries of support for Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula, who are reportedly ready to run for the positions of president and secretary-general of the ANC respectively.
The crowd sang in favour of Motlanthe while rolling their hands in a gesture more often used when soccer fans call for a substitution during a match.
In Durban, SA Communist Party provincial secretary Themba Mthembu said his party was aware of "forces" that have been trying to divide the ANC ahead of Mangaung.
"It is not the first time [this is happening]. We also believe that dragging the names of comrades Zweli Mkhize and Senzo Mchunu is an act of desperate forces.
"This is seen as a clear indication of the desperation in which these forces find themselves," he said.
Weekend reports suggested that Mkhize and Mchunu were rallying behind Human Settlement Minister Tokyo Sexwale, who is said to be leading an anti-Zuma campaign.
"It was seen that the country and the ANC-led government is in a dire situation ... we strongly believe and recognise the commitment and effort of the present government and its leadership," Mthembu said. - Additional reporting by Sapa
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