BY REGINALD KANYANE
The North West Provincial Chairperson of the ANC Youth League and MEC for Local Government and Human Settlements – Collen Maine has been nominated unopposed as the presidential candidate of the province during the Provincial General Council hosted at Mmabatho Civic Centre in Mahikeng over the weekend.
The provincial general council was held to prepare the Youth League in the province for the upcoming 25th National Congress to be held at Gallagher Estate in Midrand from the 4th to the 6th of September – this coming weekend under the theme “Unity in Action Towards Economic Freedom in our Lifetime : Rebuilding the ANCYL and Reshaping the Future”.
Other names nominated unopposed for other top positions of the league includes Desmond Moela from Mpumalanga for Deputy President position; Njabula Nzuza from KwaZulu-Natal for Secretary-General and Thandi Moraka from Limpopo for Deputy Secretary-General. The league abstained to nominate anyone for the Treasure-General position.
When addressing the gathering Maine rebuked those using state power with tendencies of buying members of the ANC. He warned that the ANC is not cheap and is not for sale. “This new culture of buying members of the league must come to an end. Leaders of the ANC especially those who were removed from the state offices, must not want to influence the outcomes of the league by influencing and buying members to vote in a certain way. These tendencies must fall” said Maine.
In the quest to rebuild and restore the league’s integrity, Maine called on members to join the league at branch level and to be groomed and shaped to grow within the organization and develop as future leaders. “People can’t be elected chairpersons today and expect to be presidents tomorrow. There is no ANC Youth League branch in Luthuli House. All of us must start at the branch level and go through the Eye of the Needle” said Collen Maine.
As the congress date draw closer, Maine remembered where it all went wrong for the youth League. “We destroyed it in Gallagher Estate and we must go and restore this League there,” he said, referring to the last national congress that elected the League’s expelled leadership. “Being radical and militant does not mean you must be anarchic and disrespectful like the previous leadership. There is no room for anarchy in the ANC. Members must respect democratic processes of the organization and those who are not happy must learn to accept and live with such decisions” remarked Maine.
He also emphasized that all resolutions to be taken at the conference that starts this Friday will be of the league’s collectively and must never be pinned to an individual. Maine said the league must push for free education for all. “For young people to access opportunities presented to them, education must be free and fashionable. Without education we will not realize the economic freedom that we are advocating for as the Youth League. The league must take these resolutions and fearlessly engage the ANC to find expression within the movement” concluded Maine.
National Task Team deployee of the ANC to the province Faith Muthambi was impressed by the level of discipline displayed by members of the league who participated in all activities which ensured the delivery of a successful and incident free provincial general council.
-TDN
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