With just less than two months until the ANC Youth League conference there is already speculation regarding possible candidates to lead the organisation.
The National Youth Task Team’s spokesperson, Sizophila Mkhize, told City Press that appointing a woman for the position would be a turning point for the ANC and would be a catalyst in derailing patriarchy.
A source told City Press that the females who have been touted to possibly lead the youth wing were Mkhize as well as Tshwane youth league regional executive committee and national youth task team (NYTT) member, Tlangi Mogale.
The male candidates gaining branch support are #FeesMustFall activist Mcebo Dlamini; the executive chairperson of the National Youth Development Agency, Sifiso Mtsweni; and the youth league’s regional coordinator in Ekurhuleni, Collen Malatji, who is also the ANC’s youngest parliamentarian .
Mkhize told City Press that, should a female candidate be chosen to lead the youth league, it could mark a turning point for young people and serve as a catalyst in derailing entrenched patriarchy in the party.
“It would be history in the making,” she said.
“It could be very good for the ANC. I believe even the mother body could take up the example of the youth league. The world is changing ... we should also be able to say: ‘Do not oppress young people if they want to contest and lead the structures of the ANC.’”
Mkhize is hoping that more than one woman will be elected.
Her ideal result would be three females and two males making up the top five.
She confirmed that members had approached her to contest in the upcoming conference.
“I said: ‘It is still early; let us first rebuild [the youth league], and when we are closer to the congress we can look at positions.”
Mkhize warned members to refrain from “obsessing” about positions.
Mogale is also part of the NYTT – the task team established by the ANC’s national executive committee after it disbanded the youth league under the leadership of Collen Maine.
Dlamini is deemed to be the so-called dark horse.
He is believed to have the potential to lead the youth, but many say his credentials are inadequate.
A league branch member in Tshwane, who asked not to be named, described Dlamini as someone who had “grown” within the politics of the youth league.
“Even though he may be someone who could bring the youth league back to relevance, given that he has led the Congress of SA Students (Cosas) for years, it is a different story when it comes to leading the youth league,” he said.
Dlamini confirmed that he had added his candidacy to the presidential race.
He downplayed his perceived inexperience in league structures, saying he had been part of the youth league for more than a decade.
He said the league needed to define itself and its role in the current dispensation because “if we are going to lead young people without identifying ourselves, then we are going to have problems”.
According to youth league sources, Mtsweni has support from some Western Cape structures.
Malatji has reliable support in his region, but this will be insufficient to secure the presidency unless he can mobilise the rest of Gauteng.
Meanwhile, things are heating up in the youth league’s Gauteng branches, which are expected to elect their leadership before the national youth league conference in March. All provinces are in a race against time to elect their new leaders.
City Press has learnt that youth league members in Tshwane are campaigning to have the position of chairperson brought to their region for a change.
“The provincial chair of the youth league must come from Tshwane,” a source in the lobby group said.
In Tshwane, Ntsako Mogobo has emerged as a favourite to stand against former regional task team coordinator Lesego Makhubela. Described as the “right kind of radical leader”, Mogobo has led Cosas both in Gauteng and Tshwane, and was one of the league’s youngest REC members in Tshwane.
Sibongile Besani, the NYTT coordinator, acknowledged that it was a tight squeeze for structures to organise two major events.