Commemoration under a shadow for ANCYL

The battle for the heart and soul of the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) continues - with wider repercussions for the ruling African National Congress as a whole. Last week, the “disbanded” provincial executive of the Eastern Cape ANCYL gave notice that it would challenge the decision by the ANCYL’s national working committee, led by national president Julius Malema, to disband the structure. In the interim, it can be expected that the ANCYL will use this week’s commemoration of the 1976 student uprising on Youth Day to punt one of Malema’s more controversial campaigns.

ANCYL spokesperson Floyd Shivambu said the league’s executive committee had been deployed to ensure this week’s commemorations under the theme “Youth action for economic freedom in our lifetime”. It is widely interpreted as cover for punting the Malema-led campaign for the nationalisation of mines.

Ironically, Malema will share the stage with President Jacob Zuma as one of the keynote speakers at the ANCYL’s main celebration rally in the Northern Cape.  The president recently distanced himself and the ANC in parliament from the nationalisation campaign as not part of policy, and referring questions about the subject to Malema.

Divisive leadership battle rages on

In the meantime, the deeply divisive leadership battles at provincial level within the ANCYL seem to be threatening to tear it apart.

The Eastern Cape ANCYL’s provincial executive committee (PEC) became the third such provincial structure to be disbanded by the Malema faction of the ANCYL, in what is seen to be a purge of those who do not support Malema. The past few weeks saw contest for leadership positions in provinces across South Africa deeply dividing the league.

These divisions are linked to next year’s ANCYL national conference when leaders are to be elected/re-elected. Two factions have crystalised – one supporting Malema for re-election and the other supporting his current deputy Andile Lungisa to replace him.

In the Eastern Cape, those who support Malema want provincial secretary Ayanda Matiti to take over as provincial chairperson, while those supporting Lungisa wanted to elect Mawande Ndakisa.

The provincial conference ended in chaos, and two subsequent attempts to hold an elective conference failed.

Malema’s representative then announced that the serving PEC, which supported Ndakisa and Lungisa, had been disbanded by a decision of the Provincial Working Committee (PWC). The two factions later held separate provincial conferences.

The PWC dissolved the Eastern Cape PEC last week after having accused it of repeatedly failing to hold an elective conference.

The disbandment came after the PEC allegedly failed to show up at a meeting called by the NWC, but the PEC accused the NWC of calling the meeting at such short notice that it was impossible for a number of its members to attend.

Reversal of previous decisions?

Last week, the PEC hit back, saying that the PWC, as an operating organ of the national working committee (NWC) of the ANC, had no executive powers and could therefore not dissolve the PEC.

If this interpretation is correct, it could lead to a reversal of the earlier decisions by Malema’s NWC to dissolve the leadership structures in Limpopo and North West, where Malema supporters were installed.

In some other provinces, new leaders were installed after highly contested elections, which the Lungisa faction charged were fraught with irregularities, manipulation and intimidation. In yet other provinces, such as the Western Cape, elective conferences have been postponed indefinitely while the power struggles between factions continue.

At stake is the future of the highly controversial Malema who was recently silenced by a disciplinary hearing of the senior ANC into a number of his recent statements and actions. A suspended sentence effectively gagged him until after the national conferences of both the ANCYL (next year) and the ANC (in 2012). But Malema's supporters on the league’s NEC remain both vocal and active on his behalf. The ANCYL president and his supporters are attempting to position him for re-election as national chairperson at next year’s ANCYL national conference to be held in North West.

Should Malema be re-elected as national chairperson, he will be in an extremely powerful yet highly divisive position to influence the election of leaders in the senior ANC in 2012; and is likely to continue spearheading moves to oust the current left-wing ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe and have him replaced by Malema’s ally, the former ANCYL leader and current Deputy Minister of Police Fikile Mbalula.