/ 1 November 2013

ANCYL could be liquidated for owing events company R15m

Ronald Lamola  is tipped to be the next president of the youth league
Ronald Lamola is tipped to be the next president of the youth league

Business Day reported that the ANC Youth League was provisionally liquidated under a ruling by the high court in Johannesburg on Friday.

The liquidation is the result of an application by events company Z2 Presentations for the youth league to be sequestered for an outstanding bill of R15-million for a national conference it held in Bloemfontein in 2008.

Expelled youth league president Julius Malema was elected during the conference.

Acting judge Tony Mundell said that interested parties who could show cause why the order should not be made final had until January 27 to make their views known.

A final order would mean effectively terminate the youth league as a legal entity.

"I cannot close my eyes to the proud role that the respondent [the youth league] has played in the political and cultural life of this country, both historically and currently," Mundell said.

"Its close association with the ANC and the interest that the governing party has in the proper functioning and administration of the ANC Youth League are also issues that weighed with me.

"I have, in these circumstances, come to the conclusion that justice will be more appropriately served by the grant of a provisional winding-up order which will entitle interested parties to advance their views, if any, on the return day."

The provisional liquidation means that the affairs of the youth league will from now on be put in the hands of the Master of the High Court, and that the interim leadership of the league is no longer in a position to take any decisions until the final order on January 27.