The provincial leaderships of the ANC Youth League in Mpumalanga and the North West have defied a warning from their national leaders, saying acting president Ronald Lamola and acting secretary-general Kenetswe Mosenogi should emerge as top leaders of the movement at the up-coming congress.

Acting Mpumalanga provincial secretary for the ANCYL Clarence Maseko reiterated his call for Lamola to be the next president of the league. He said the league in the province was emulating the KwaZulu-Natal provincial leadership of the ANC, which had nominated President Jacob Zuma to be re-elected ANC president. He called on the national leadership of the league to hold the congress and elect the new president as soon as possible.

“Lamola is from home and he is our next president. We apply the same attitude like the KwaZulu-Natal ANC leadership who chose President Zuma because he is from their province. We will stand by Lamola like a tattoo on human flesh. That’s our attitude and we will not change our minds on that,” Maseko said.

“The ANC has given the league enough time to elect a new presidenta nd there is no better time to do so than now.”

However, Maseko pointed out that the Mpumalanga leadership of the league would agitate for Lamola’s election only through democratic means.

“We will not hold a gun against someone’s head and say, ‘we want Lamola to be the next president’. We will lobby for his election and convince everyone in the league that he deserves the position.”

Papiki Baboile, provincial chairperson for the ANCYL in the North West, said the province wanted Lamola and Mosenogi to be retained at the top leadership level.

“We have not yet decided on the positions that we want the two to occupy, but we want them to remain there at the top. We have confidence in them and believe they can take the organisation forward,” Baboile said.

The pronouncements of leadership choice from the two provinces came two days after the youth league’s national executive committee warned Mpumalanga and other provincial leaders not to prematurely open the succession debate. Lamola said all the league leaderships would be given the go-ahead to do so at the right time.

Gauteng provincial secretary for the youth league Ayanda Kasa-Ntsobi, condemned the provincial leaders for making their choices public. She said the league in the province would publicly reveal its stance after discussing the matter at their provincial executive committee meeting to be held soon.

“We tried our best to stay away from unwarranted pronouncements and I don’t know why these people take this matter to the media.”