The ANC has resolved that they should 'renew or perish' following their National General Councill last week.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has appealed to the ANCYL to lobby young people to support the ANC.
This comes as the party is witnessing a sharp decline in support in most provinces with analysts predicting that the party will go below 30% at next years local government elections.
The ANC is currently in a coalition government nationally with parties such as the DA and other smaller parties. They suffered their first defeat at the general elections last year.
Ramaphosa was speaking at the ANCYL elective conference in Polokwane on Monday.
“You as delegates to this conference must redefine for yourselves how the ANCYL can more effectively mobilise young people behind the African National Congress and how you should do it effectively is to champion the interests of young people,” he said.
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Is the ANCYL still relevant?
Ramaphosa said the ANCYL plays an important part of the party’s renewal programme which he has championed since he became ANC president.
He said the youth league must collaborate with the mother body on matters such as political education and making sure that the ANC is in touch with communities and young people around the country.
“Young people in our country are hungry to find a home; young people in our country want direction and you are the closest agent of change. You are the mobiliser to bring young people together and to champion the interests of young people,” he said.
Ramaphosa also said the ANCYL has the responsibility of mobilising the youth towards participating in the upcoming local government election in big numbers. This statement comes in the context of the ANC admitting that they had lost some votes through voter apathy.
Young people at the NGC
Ramaphosa said the youth is playing a more serious role in the ANC. He pointed out that the recent National General Council (NGC) that the party hosted had more young people than ever before.
He said they were not disruptive, but contributed to the robust engagements that the party had on its midterm review.
“These young people demonstrated that they had prepared to participate in the NGC, they had read the base documents of the NGC and they had analysed those documents and they came to the NGC armed with clear positions.
“They argued those clear positions calmly intelligently effectively, purposefully… They did all of that to demonstrate to us the ANCYL has come of age and it is ready to lead,” he said.
The ANCYL of Madiba’s time
Ramaphosa said the youth league is the hope of the ANC. He referred delegates to the historic impact that the ANCYL of Nelson Mandela’s time made in changing the course of South African history and influencing the mother body to change its strategy of trying to obtain freedom for the majority of black people in the country.
Ramaphosa’s speech comes in a time where the ANC is admitting that it is facing existential crisis. Political analysts had also predicted that the ANC may soon find itself as a rural party with no strong influence in the cities.
They have lost a strong grip on three important provinces, namely, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Western Cape.
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