Young South African politicians are rebelling against the established leadership of their parties as they struggle to revive organisations that, in some cases, seem to be on their last legs after suffering serious setbacks in the last general election.
The dislodging of Inkatha Freedom Party national chairperson Lionel Mtshali — seen in some quarters as an ageing traditionalist — by the IFP Youth Brigade is one of the most concrete signs that young politicians are becoming determined to replace leaders who are not able to secure a role for their parties in South African politics.
The IFP Youth Brigade led the successful efforts to get Ziba Jiyane — seen as a modernist — elected national chairperson, despite Mtshali being the favoured candidate of IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi.
And on Wednesday the former leaders of the Pan Africanist Youth Congress (Payco) again called for the disbanding of the leadership of the Pan Africanist Congress because of the organisation’s poor performance during the last election.
The PAC leadership dismissed the calls on the grounds that they had disbanded the leadership of Payco in May. Officially, the PAC does not have a youth organisation at the moment.
But not even the successful political parties are safe from the dissatisfaction of some of their younger members and supporters.
The South African Communist Party has revived the Young Communist League (YCL). In existence for only months, the YCL has made a stand by sometimes publicly differing with its ally, the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL).
The communist league has already called on its members to contest positions in the upcoming ANCYL in August. The YCL has differed with the youth league on what should be done with the Umsobomvu Fund — a national youth development fund — as well as the National Youth Commission, both widely perceived to be failing to deliver on their mandates.
The ANCYL is seen to be toeing the line on government and ANC social and economic development policies — which are relatively conservative and broadly market-driven. The YCL is campaigning for the ANC and the government to adopt more radical transformation policies. The tussle between the two may give an indication of the long-term political direction of the ANC and the tripartite alliance.
IFP Youth Brigade
The IFP Youth Brigade finally has the courage of its convictions after years of privately calling for change in the IFP but cringing in servility before Buthelezi. Last year it appointed a new chairperson, Sibusisiwe Ngubane, and a new deputy, Thulasizwe Buthelezi.
This new leadership has drawn in thousands of new members and invigorated interest in the IFP. Ngubane said there were so many youth last week that even Buthelezi commented that the annual general conference looked like a youth brigade meeting.
”We don’t want to change the party but we want to see it grow. In any organisation there needs to be change or transformation, and that should be determined by what the voters want. All in the IFP, not just youth, should aim to make the party more enticing to potential voters.
”The reality is that more youth are joining the IFP because they see it as the alternative to the other parties. Our party has always been seen as a party of old people and we want to change that.”
Ngubane hates the word revolution. ”I would not call what is happening a revolution, as if we want to turn the party upside down. All the parties need change and we are just contributing to that process.”
Democratic Alliance Youth
Asked if the Democratic Alliance Youth is active in any campaigns, DA Youth leader, Douglas Nkosi, responds: ”We are very active. We will have a federal meeting this weekend. We will discuss our role in politics. We have all sorts of programmes to fight HIV, poverty and unemployment.”
Nkosi said, although youth were represented in the senior DA structures, they were not pushing for any change because they were happy with everything. ”Everything has been smooth. There’s no need to change anything.” DA Youth are now participating in the National Youth Commission after initial reservations about its operations.
Nkosi dismissed speculation that the youth structure is mostly black. ”All the members are free, both black and white. To say that our membership is mostly black is unfair. We don’t have a scale to measure that. In the DA family we don’t have blacks or whites; we have individuals.”
But he insisted on commenting on the coming ANCYL congress. ”Tell them we want to see their new leadership that is fully representative after their congress. It must not be blacks only. They always talk of unity, so they must lead by example,” he said.
Young Communist League
The YCL was relaunched in December last year, reviving a structure that has lain dormant since the enactment of the Suppression of the Communist Act in 1950.
National secretary Buti Manamela said it already has a membership of about 10 000. But one of its leaders criticised the organisation for being a ”media tiger”. He said the ideas behind the formation of the YCL were noble and that they were supposed to be a viable alternative to the ANCYL with trend-setting projects for youth developments. But he was not convinced that it was still pursuing that path.
Manamela said the formation of the YCL was inevitable because about 60% of the SACP membership was youth anyway. ”We see the YCL as a political training ground for young communists to give them an ideological perspective of the party.”
He said it was important that youth stand up because they were most affected by unemployment, lack of educational opportunities and desperation. ”Through our young people’s forum we heard stories about young people who were so desperate that they would deliberately infect themselves with HIV so that they could receive the Aids grant.” Manamela said other campaigns that the YCL is driving include the total banning of school fees — a free education campaign.
ANC Youth League
The ANCYL congress takes place in two weeks’ time. The meeting aims to challenge young people to take advantage of opportunities presented by democracy.
When confronted with questions about conflict of interests among its leaders who also have business interests, the league is prone to respond: ”We fought for this democracy so that we can enjoy its fruit. What is wrong with young people becoming rich?”
The ANCYL has been criticised for prostituting itself to businesses that are eyeing government tenders. Many of the current premiers and provincial ministers are former leaders of the league, making it a fertile ground for careerists.
The league’s congress conference will, however, be used to re-examine the structures that are supposed to champion youth interests, a few of which are led by league members. These include the National Youth Commission, which is presided over by national executive member Jabu Mbalula. The ANCYL says ”eight years on, serious questions need to be asked about the effectiveness of this institution”.
The biggest criticism of the league has been its increasing docility over the years with the suspicion that no one wants to criticise the mother body lest they jeopardise their career prospects. It has been at the forefront of defending the ANC, even from its alliance partners such as the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the SACP.