Mabuza motivates youth league at birthday party

MIDDELBURG – The ANC chairperson and premier, Mr David Mabuza, celebrated his 53rd birthday on Sunday with well over 500 members of the ANC Youth League who attended the provincial general council (PGC) meeting convened by the provincial task team (PTT).

Besides the singing of a birthday song and sharing of a huge cake, Mabuza motivated and inspired league members to be good future leaders.

He tasked them to assist the mother body to win next year’s general elections, adding that the ANC was weaker without the young lions. He warned them, however, not to be complacent but to continue being revolutionaries.

“You must be different from the rest of your generation, you must gain a better understanding of the issues affecting the youth.

Whatever happened within Ancyl was just unfortunate.

“We were all insulted in one way or the other, but I say to you, close that chapter and do not allow it to haunt you. Go out there and work for the ANC. Remember you are in a glorious movement of the people which has survived all these years, because it has always been united.

“Factionalism is a sickness, do not go back there. You must systematically and gradually get out of it. I want them all to unite for the sake of our province and the ANC. “I demand this from you, if you do it right you would have made my birthday celebration a memorable one. Do not repeat the mistakes of the past.

We want to believe that you have learnt your lesson. Go back and establish branches as a matter of urgency and concentrate on helping the main body win the elections,” said Mabuza.

Ancyl had always been the breeding ground for ANC leaders and it was important to prepare them for leadership.

He stressed they needed to respect those who came before them, however, they should share fresh ideas with them in a respectful manner.

He added they should always look up to former youth leaders such Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu who demonstrated the “real power” of the youth league.

“These are the comrades who successfully led Ancyl, they must always remain our role models as we all know the role they played in our lives.

You have a lot to learn from these leaders,” he went on.

He further raised a concern that strangely former league leaders who grew up within the ANC disappeared and later had no roles within the party.

He said such conduct needed to be corrected as it was just an empty investment for the party.

He said it was unacceptable that some former Ancyl leaders ended up being “celebrities” instead of revolutionaries.

“There is continuity in the ANC.

Our struggle continues, the war will never be over until our people are freed from poverty and other social ills.

We must be exemplary in the manner we do things in the ANC, we must demonstrate it day by day.

Mabuza gave the youth league only two weeks to reorganise itself and urged it to launch a creative election campaign as a matter of urgency.