MZINTI – The youth must refrain from abusing alcohol, abstain from having unsafe sex and take up their rightful position of mobilising communities to ensure that they realise their economic freedom.

This was spelled out by ANC Youth League (Ancyl) provincial chairperson, Mr Desmond Moela, during a memorial lecture dedicated to the late struggle youth hero, Solomon Kalush Mahlangu, at the local community hall on Saturday.

“The HIV/Aids epidemic must be taken seriously by our youth because dreaded as it is described, it really kills. When I chant the slogan: One girlfriend, one boyfriend and one condom, one round, I really mean it.

It is not just a gimmick, but a caution against irresponsible sex,” Moela explained. He motivated the youth of Nkomazi, Umjindi and Mbombela to emulate the political life which was led by Mahlangu, whom he described as a dedicated and fearless cadre of the Ancyl, “for he laid down his life, spilled his blood for the attainment of the freedom that we attained in 1994’’.

“His parting words before he was executed by the apartheid regime were ‘my blood will nourish the tree of freedom. Tell my people that I love them’.” The memorial lecture was also attended by members of Congress of South African Students and South African Student Congress.

The Communist Party of Swaziland was also represented. Mr Bheki Lubisi of the Nkomazi subregion, described Moela as a very important personality who was campaigning to become the deputy president of the ANC nationally and he had succeeded in bringing about peace and unity within the youth league.

Lubisi said, “Secretary general Gwede Mantashe said a generation which doesn’t know its history, is a lost generation. It is important for the youth to structure our programme as well as refer to our history as we are encouraged in the history on how to emulate our heroes and realise the attainment of economic freedom in our lifetime.

“We need to tackle unemployment among the youth. I hope today’s lecture will transform you. It is important to love yourself and other people.” Moela said, “Today is a very special day. We must always remember where we come from.

June is a very important month for the youth. Government must ensure they deliver. “Challenges of 1976 are different from ours as they fought the apartheid regime. Today we need to ask ourselves one question, are we going to defend this freedom? We must do justice. Today we are faced with challenges of unemployment, poverty, housing and diseases.

“We must make sure that we achieve something for the youth through education and abolishment of poverty and homelessness. Solomon Mahlangu was a son of a domestic worker, just like many of us. “Don’t be confused by the theft of our programme: Economic Freedom In Our Lifetime by the EFF.

They can’t be forgiven. They stole everything of the youth league. Solomon Mahlangu left school in standard eight to take up the struggle. He was a fearless fellow. “It is never too late to fight poverty through education. Education is free and compulsory. We must go back to school to fight poverty.

This generation of Nelson Mandela must make use of the free education on offer in the country,” emphasised Moela. He said Mahlangu never abandoned education, but proceeded to empower himself in exile. Moela said 21 years ago the people of South Africa attained freedom and free education was on offer for the youth, as well as the introduction of the feeding scheme and scholar transport.

People like Solomon Mahlangu were fighting against harassment by the apartheid regime. “He went to Angola and sent to Swaziland to go assist in student uprisings in 1976. The ANC can deploy you anywhere. “We support struggles of our neighbours like Swaziland, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

They assisted us a lot during those struggle days. The ANC believes in the rule by the people as our constituencies should dictate to us the way forward. “Hence, we are still in consultation with our neighbours. He sacrificed his life and blood and that his blood had brought about our freedom.

We cannot say it is over as there are these Mickey Mouse parties, but the ANC will lead and govern. It needs the loyalty of our youth and to make us strong as ever. “We need to take a mandate from our constituencies and the movement which is a movement of our people.

The ANC still remains relevant today, tomorrow and forever. We need to become volunteers of the ANC, it is not an employment agency, but it will channel your lives for the better. We need to play a critical role by mobilising people so that eventually we transform the youth into a united force.

“Let’s face the local government elections with one thing in mind, that we will place resourceful people who will address the challenges of the youth league.

All people in positions of power, come from our ranks. “We need to be exemplary wherever we are. Our attitude must be all encompassing. It must be representative of our martyrs l