Lim youth must be roaring like young lions

Ernest Mokaba, the late ANC Youth League (ANCYL) president Peter Mokaba’s brother, has slammed the split in the ANC Youth League saying members and former members alike are not young lions but more like tabby cats.

Mokaba was speaking during Jacob Zuma’s visit to the Mokaba family in Mankweng on Sunday. The visit was part of the ANCYL 69th anniversary celebrations.

Mokaba said wise people admitted their mistakes and tried to correct them instead of leaving their group and forming a new one, as in the case of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). “EFF members are lost and people are just following one man. I feel pity for them. I always remember Peter by his slogan ‘Roar young lions, roar!'” Mokaba said.

Zuma recalled that the late ANCYL president had been very quick to express his views, but never made the ANC look bad. He said he had always acted within the ANC’s framework.

His reason for visiting the late Mokaba’s grave was to pay him tribute because he had led the youth during the unbanning of the ANC and other movements. He said the youth league should rise above the challenges they were facing.

This was the first rally organised by the ANC national task team whose mandate is to rebuild the ANCYL following their dissolution. The rally was attended by some 10 000 ANC members.

National task team convener, Mzwandile Masina said disciplined ANC members did not insult their leadership. He said economic freedom was a collective struggle and required the mobilisation of the broadest sections of South African society to achieve it.

“The youth league can never be a useless desk within the ANC, it will continue to be a watchdog and pressure group within the movement to champion the interests of the youth. We are making a call to the ANC-led government for free education, starting with the doubling of bursary funding and conversion of bursaries into grants for those students who completed their first degree in record time. We appreciate the building of two universities in the Northern Cape and Mpumalanga as well as the 12 new FET colleges through out the country. Racism in the campuses should be condemned in the strongest possible terms,” he said.

“A large number of the youth are unemployed and government should scarp entry requirements for certain categories of jobs in the public service to allow massive entrance by our graduates, of which a majority are the youth.

We are calling for massive in-service training and internship programmes to give practical experience in the workplace. We are also calling for a ratio system in specific industries including the hospitality and service industries, to ensure the youth being absorbed in these industries. It can’t be correct that foreigners continue to dominate in these industries when our people are unemployed,” he said.

“The youth should consider farming as a career and Land Bank should finance emerging farmers. It is still shocking that 79% of SA land is in private hands, 14% in public and 7% unaccounted for. The government should take steps to expropriate the land in private hands for restitution purposes.”