ANC calls youth league president Malatji to order after taking a jab at 'unemployment minister' Nxesi

The ANC has called its youth league president Collen Malatji to order after he took a dig at employment and labour minister Thulas Nxesi. 

Malatji publicly criticised Nxesi during his closing address at the second leg of the ANC Youth League's 26th national congress over the weekend in the Free State.

“We are no longer going to delegate this responsibility to pensioners. The responsibility to take this country forward is upon us, but you cannot do that if you have no solutions,” he said.

Malatji said Nxesi appeared to be the “minister of unemployment” and should be removed. 

“I don’t know when we are removing him but it’s an urgent matter,” Malatji said.

“The president of the country, Cyril Ramaphosa, responding to the issue of unemployment, employed a minister of employment who is becoming a minister of unemployment. That minister is not responding to the practical issues the youth wants to speak about.”

In a statement, the ANC noted Malatji's comments, saying it does not encourage insults towards party members. 

“The youth league represents a strong body of opinion within our organisation and society towards the fulfilment of its twin tasks — advancing the ideals of a democratic society and the development of young people,” it said. 

“Whilst the ANC encourages the youth league to robustly and outspokenly pursue the interests of young people, we urge this should be done without denigrating personalities.

“Whilst we encourage an analysis of many issues confronting South Africans, we do not encourage insults on deployees who are seized with these issues. Any critical thought should be premised on substantive analysis and solution-based thinking. As such, the ANC takes exception to the utterances by the youth league on Thulas Nxesi.”