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Disbanding the ANC Youth League’s national executive committee will further harm the league and delay the congress by at least 18 months.
This was stated by Magasela Mzobe, a graduate of the league of the class that was led by Julius Malema, on his Facebook status.
Having read his statement, insight discloses evidence to the fact that the current challenges faced by the ANC Youth League can be traced back to the mistakes made by Malema at the time in which he was president of the league.
In order to capture and thus prevent these mistakes from multiplying – of which the call for the disbandment of the league today by the even self-acclaimed removalists is a multiple of such mistakes, effected recurrently through solutions that were offered as a bandage to a much greater problem – these mistakes must be viewed in light of the values which we pursue as a people.
In other words, then, the method of approach to solving the problems of the youth used by Julius Malema, then and now, has uprooted itself from the ground of African culture which is constituted by love and respect for the fellow being and your elders, and more so for the group in which you belong – and this will be a topic for another time.
But the sustained irritation we experience today from such problems only reveals the mismatch of the solution provided to the problem.
There are lessons to be learnt from these mistakes, more so for our elders in the movement; it is not enough just to give young men and woman African values, or just to provide the youth with another orientation in the world.
If it is not connected to the whole movement of African liberation and revolution – and when they are still jobless and unemployed, we are going to find ourselves in a situation where they will reject those values.
Therefore, the New Dawn transformation of the youth league needs to be integrated with economic and political development, something which will be achieved by a coming together as opposed to disbandment.
And it will do good for the so called removalists at this time, and the general population, to come to the realisation that South Africa today needs not heroism but healing, and not revolution but restoration.
The point that we should keep in mind when dealing with issues that confront us as young people of this country is that the native youth of this country are as complicated a people as any other people, and one of the things sometimes that we underestimate is the degree to which we must address ourselves as native people.
Too often we have people who think that our issues and the things that we have to deal with can be described in 25 words or less, or solutions to our problems can be thrown a quick bandage.
These people think we are small-minded people, and they, therefore, don’t have to write some sizable material or discuss in detail, concerning the issues that confront us.
If other nations and other people require libraries to deal with their issues, so do we.
In an attempt to uncover real solutions through which to address the sociopolitical and socioeconomic circumstances that confront us as young people, we have to cover a lot of territory such as psychology, history, sociology, economics, and a great deal of political science and related fields – anthropology and so forth – because all of these areas have to be combined in the process of nation-building.
And this is at the core of what the ANC Youth League really is about – the process of building a nation as a people.
Given the degree to which the league has to represent the youth of this country, all leadership personnel throughout the structures of the league should consistently develop ideological mindsets which reflect the changes in South Africa.
They ought to first and foremost be thinkers, observers and analysts, constantly looking at the realities of native Africans in South Africa, and shift their visions, and not be afraid to change their minds and go against their prior opinions, when that reality suggests that those opinions were wrong.
Of course this may be viewed merely as a simple theory. However, the most practical thing one could have is a good concept. A good theory to be used as an instrument to measure and test reality.
And a good theory, then, organises the world and one’s approach to the world. It permits one to be able to evaluate the world in terms of where one wants to go and in terms of what one wants to do.
To be without theory, then, is to approach the world on an ad hoc basis – just an immediate here-and-there and to not approach things in a systematic form – to live reactionarily, always reacting to what other people are doing.
The reactions we see on social media by members of the current national executive committee of the league at the behest of the recent march to Luthuli House by impatient though willing members at branch level, solicited by the so-called removalists calling for their disbandment is a typical example of always being overwhelmed by events and overwhelmed by the future, instead of creating events and creating the future.
If one has good theory and a good concept, one is able to do the latter; and such is one of the befitting roles of the recently launched ANC OR Tambo School of Leadership – to develop theories which speak to the needs of our youth and to train those who may aspire to one day lead society through public service.
In reflection on the above, it is important to take note that the league is not a protest organisation, and therefore actionable programmes need not be characterised only by solutions which default into protest and marches, as we have lately seen.
Alternatively, we need to adopt more cooperative and corporate approaches which include professionals, where black people uplift themselves through their own strength and resources.
However, and without disregarding the successful work done by the tireless youth league secretary-general, Comrade Njabulo Nzuza (now the deputy minister of home affairs) – without whom there would be not much of a youth league to refer to today.
Further, one must equally admit that the sentiments carried out by the disgruntled Comrade Thabo Mabotja in organising the call to disband the league’s national executive committee is as a result of a situation in which the league finds itself today.
The league – which was great and effective for nearly three-quarters of a century – finds itself in a time of crises and change, without programmes; without effective organisation and without executive officers who have either the ability or disposition to guide the national association for the advancement of native South African youth in the right direction.
However, disbanding the league will hardly achieve the desired effect. It rather lends itself to the ploy of self-destruction to be celebrated by the opposition.
Therefore, rather than turning against each other, we must recognise that the human being is a social animal – we exist in society; we exist in groups.
We are born dependent, not independent; we have long periods of dependency.
As such, it is the social relationship between ourselves and our collective that protects us during our long periods of dependency.
And in a sense, we never quite get over our dependency and the need for one another.
Therefore, teaming up and practicing unity in all areas of our endeavours towards liberating our people actually works to serve our best interests, for the individual exists for the social unit.
Lastly, we need to remember that ours is a call for power. We must realise also that power is essentially built around strategy and technique – how people align themselves with each other.
It is centred around organisation and systems, not in people; not in individuals but alignments.
Systematic relationships. Tactics. Strategies.
And so we need to disassociate power with “positions.” We used the same methods in the 1976 student uprising; in the 1952 defiance campaign.
So we can use those same methods and techniques, plus new ones to achieve new goals and new things.
As we anticipate embracing the restoration and strengthening of our movement in the upcoming 26th national congress, we need to aspire to be an organisation which develops radical and innovative programmes which envisage direct action of youth for the upliftment of our socially depressed masses.
• Collin Mdaka is an acting Gauteng provincial chairperson of the ANC professionals league and ANC youth league member in good standing. He writes in his own capacity.
