Axed ANC Youth League (ANCYL) task team convener Xola Nqola has taken on the party’s secretary-general Fikile Mbalula head-on after Mbalula removed him on Thursday evening.
Nqola has written a letter to the party’s top brass, alleging political manipulation, interference and total disregard of processes by Mbalula and other ANC NEC members in the run-up to the 26th youth league national conference scheduled to sit this weekend.
Nqola has asked the ANC national officials, including President Cyril Ramaphosa, to intervene and stop Mbalula, his ally and head of organising, Mduduzi Manana, and others from meddling with the running of the youth league.
His letter comes just hours after Mbalula axed him as the convener of the task team for convening and presiding over the Eastern Cape youth league conference despite a clear directive that it should not sit.
The interference of senior party members, Nqola wrote, as well as issues with credentials, outstanding audit reports among others, could impact the credibility of the national conference.
Nqola detailed how manipulation, interference and sometimes intimidation allegedly became the order of the day and have marred the processes leading to the national conference.
This, he said, required immediate attention of the party’s top leadership.
“Though the congress is scheduled to commence tomorrow (Friday 30 June), there’s a lot of branches of the ANCYL that have not received their audit reports, and there’s others that have been fraudulently audited to either participate or not participate in the congress on the basis of other’s personal preferences,” he wrote.
“The audit process was also marred with bullying and threats of members, branches and structures of the ANCYL in an unprecedented manner. Not only have audit reports not been released to branches, there also has been no responses to branches that have raised queries, grievances and disputes.”
He claimed that there had also been a manipulation of the list of delegates meant to attend the conference.
“There has also been a manipulation of delegates that were duly elected by their branches being removed and being replaced by non-members of those branches,” he said.
The powers to procure goods for the conference have also been taken over by the party’s senior leadership from the task team.
Nqola said the task team was not given space to do its work as there had been “many incidents” of interference by ANC NEC members around the preparations for the conference.
“This has resulted in the blatant and total disregard of organisational process and prescripts, as well as the undermining of the work the [National Youth Task Team] NYTT has done thus far as we are preparing for congress,” said Nqola.
“The ANC NEC leadership that has been involved in ANCYL issues so far has worsened things by not adhering to organisational prescripts and not addressing issues structurally. They have also undermined the work we must do, unilaterally taken decisions outside us as the [National Working Committee Task Team] NWTT or even the NYTT.”
Nqola told the national officials he had evidence to back up the claims.
“Writing to yourselves as the officials is an action of last resolve, and not necessarily because we have no capability to resolve these matters as the NYTT. We, however, have been [faced] with removals, expulsions and suspensions by the secretary-general, as you’ve now witnessed with the unilateral decision to remove me as the convener of the NYTT,” he said.
“We want congress to sit with the correct credentials and processes. I wish to implore the officials of the ANC as its custodians, to rescue the ANCYL from the apparent elements of tyranny from some among them. The ANCYL's autonomy can never be determined by whether there is an elected leadership or not, it is determined by the very existence of the ANCYL as an organisation and young people as its primary stakeholders.”
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Axed youth league convener reports Mbalula to ANC top seven over 'manipulation, interference' in conference
Image: Lubabalo Lesolle/Gallo Images
Axed ANC Youth League (ANCYL) task team convener Xola Nqola has taken on the party’s secretary-general Fikile Mbalula head-on after Mbalula removed him on Thursday evening.
Nqola has written a letter to the party’s top brass, alleging political manipulation, interference and total disregard of processes by Mbalula and other ANC NEC members in the run-up to the 26th youth league national conference scheduled to sit this weekend.
Nqola has asked the ANC national officials, including President Cyril Ramaphosa, to intervene and stop Mbalula, his ally and head of organising, Mduduzi Manana, and others from meddling with the running of the youth league.
His letter comes just hours after Mbalula axed him as the convener of the task team for convening and presiding over the Eastern Cape youth league conference despite a clear directive that it should not sit.
The interference of senior party members, Nqola wrote, as well as issues with credentials, outstanding audit reports among others, could impact the credibility of the national conference.
Nqola detailed how manipulation, interference and sometimes intimidation allegedly became the order of the day and have marred the processes leading to the national conference.
This, he said, required immediate attention of the party’s top leadership.
“Though the congress is scheduled to commence tomorrow (Friday 30 June), there’s a lot of branches of the ANCYL that have not received their audit reports, and there’s others that have been fraudulently audited to either participate or not participate in the congress on the basis of other’s personal preferences,” he wrote.
“The audit process was also marred with bullying and threats of members, branches and structures of the ANCYL in an unprecedented manner. Not only have audit reports not been released to branches, there also has been no responses to branches that have raised queries, grievances and disputes.”
He claimed that there had also been a manipulation of the list of delegates meant to attend the conference.
“There has also been a manipulation of delegates that were duly elected by their branches being removed and being replaced by non-members of those branches,” he said.
The powers to procure goods for the conference have also been taken over by the party’s senior leadership from the task team.
Nqola said the task team was not given space to do its work as there had been “many incidents” of interference by ANC NEC members around the preparations for the conference.
“This has resulted in the blatant and total disregard of organisational process and prescripts, as well as the undermining of the work the [National Youth Task Team] NYTT has done thus far as we are preparing for congress,” said Nqola.
“The ANC NEC leadership that has been involved in ANCYL issues so far has worsened things by not adhering to organisational prescripts and not addressing issues structurally. They have also undermined the work we must do, unilaterally taken decisions outside us as the [National Working Committee Task Team] NWTT or even the NYTT.”
Nqola told the national officials he had evidence to back up the claims.
“Writing to yourselves as the officials is an action of last resolve, and not necessarily because we have no capability to resolve these matters as the NYTT. We, however, have been [faced] with removals, expulsions and suspensions by the secretary-general, as you’ve now witnessed with the unilateral decision to remove me as the convener of the NYTT,” he said.
“We want congress to sit with the correct credentials and processes. I wish to implore the officials of the ANC as its custodians, to rescue the ANCYL from the apparent elements of tyranny from some among them. The ANCYL's autonomy can never be determined by whether there is an elected leadership or not, it is determined by the very existence of the ANCYL as an organisation and young people as its primary stakeholders.”
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Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.
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ANC Eastern Cape youth league conference 'patently irregular', 'unauthorised', says Mbalula
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