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The newly-elected Mpumalanga ANC Youth League leadership will push for a policy change to force regional and national executive committee members to be academically-qualified.
The league’s top five leaders told a media conference yesterday that they will start by ensuring that each one of their 25 executive members was registered with an institution of higher learning.
Mpumalanga elected its new leaders at the weekend. The league’s chairperson was Desmond Moela who also doubled up as national deputy president. Moela has now stepped down from his provincial role.
Provincial chairperson, Tim Mashele, said the Mpumalanga ANC had always pioneered new policy changes in the party. One such policy, he said, was the 40% representation of youth in all levels of government.
“We want to bring back the culture of learning in our youth and that should start with us. Mpumalanga starts everything … the 40% started here,” Mashele said.
The ANCYL did not have a fund for its members to enrol part-time and full-time, Mashele said, but would encourage them to use the available government bursary schemes such as the National Student Financial Aid Scheme.
League secretary, Pholoso Mbatsane, said Mpumalanga would advocate this policy with the mother body’s national executive committee.
“It has to be a prerequisite for every youth league leader elected in the regional or provincial executive committee in the country to have a tertiary qualification. We will canvass this matter in the national general council,” Mbatsane said.
“We need to be prepared because there will be a time when people will refuse to be led by uneducated leaders,” he said.
Mashile denied that this proposal had to with the outcry that arose from the appointment of Moela as human resources development chief director in the Mpumalanga Department of Education two years ago.
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Moela did not have a tertiary qualification for the job, but only a matric certificate.
The department was accused of downgrading requirements for the post in order to accommodate Moela.
He has since been transferred to be the youth desk chief director in Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza’s office.
KwaZulu-Natal gives 25% procurement to youth
ANCYL president Collen Maine told the provincial league conference at the weekend that KwaZulu-Natal’s ANC chairperson, Sihle Zikalala, said 25% of procurement was now being allocated to the youth.
“Youth are encouraged to start co-operatives but those co-operatives are dead because they’re not given jobs. Boet (referring to Premier Mabuza), we hope that you can do the same here,” Maine said.
Mabuza for ANC deputy president
In the same conference, Maine hinted that the league was backing Mabuza to be the ANC’s national deputy president next year.
“We’re not opening the succession debate,” said Maine. “But someone from Mpumalanga must be in the top six.”
“Our slogan is DD006DP,” he said. DD is Mabuza’s initials for David Dabede. He is widely known as DD.
