ANCYL regional executive cites Phatsima village, Rustenburg Ward 1, where a rerun allegedly was conducted to suit the ANC BEC and exclude youth.
ANC flag outside Luthuli House on 15 July 2022. Picture: Michel Bega
The ANC Youth League (ANCYL) in the Bojanala region is crying foul, claiming the youth of the area are being sidelined in the councillor candidate nominations by ANC branch leaders.
They claim there is widespread manipulation and interference in the candidates’ selection process in Bojanala, where the ANCYL says young people selected by communities democratically were being removed systematically.
ANCYL cries foul
The problem was highlighted in an organisational report by ANCYL regional secretary Pako Mokua to the league’s ordinary regional executive committee meeting last week.
In the report, Mokua expressed concern about what he called a pattern in branches across the region, where young candidates nominated legitimately and democratically in community and branch general meetings were removed and replaced with ANC branch executive committee (BEC) members and certain regional deployees.
The league accused ANC branch secretaries of manipulating membership registers and rigging branch general meeting outcomes to replace young people with BEC members.
Rerun allegedly conducted to suit ANC BEC and exclude youth
The ANCYL regional executive committee (REC) cited a case of manipulation that allegedly occurred at Phatsima village in Rustenburg’s ward 1 by the ANC BEC leadership.
They claim a re-run of the selection process was conducted merely to achieve an outcome that suited the ANC BEC and to exclude the young people nominated democratically by the community.
“This is a blatant subversion of the will of the people and sets a dangerous precedent that threatens to collapse confidence in the ANC. It is an attack on the renewal agenda of the ANC,” Mokua said.
