The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) in KwaZulu-Natal has not ruled out the possibility of marching to the ANC headquarters at Luthuli House over youth representation on the party’s candidate lists.
Last week, several members of the League’s provincial congress preparatory committee picketed outside the provincial offices in Durban, demanding 25% youth representation across all municipalities in the province.
KwaZulu-Natal ANC Youth League spokesperson Sibonelo Nomvalo says they will pressurise the leadership to comply with the guidelines.
“We arrived to a determination that the 25% provision has not been complied, but not only in the PR list. We had a problem also in the ward councillors. We can’t necessarily decide what we will do in the future [when we don’t know] the attitude of the leadership. If their attitude is such that we must go to the offices, then we will be left with no option but to march to the offices,” says Nomvalo.
Earlier this week, President Cyril Ramaphosa said young people will be a major factor in the party’s local government representation, with at least a quarter of the 2021 Local Government Election candidates being youngsters.
The ANC President said 90% of those who registered as first-time voters during the registration weekend earlier this month, were young people.
South Africans go to the polls on November 1.
Ramaphosa said the youngest ANC candidate is just 20 years of age.
Below is Ramaphosa’s address to the media:
ANC vows to resolve candidate lists disputes
The ANC has vowed to have all disputes regarding its candidate lists resolved.
The ANC Electoral Committee led by former President Kgalema Motlanthe is dealing with all disputes relating to candidates.
In the video below, ANC Deputy General Secretary Jessie Duarte speaks about the status of the ANC councillor candidate registration process:
