Kingmakers: The newly elected ANC Youth League national officials during the 27th National Congress,
Collen Malatji (president), Francisco Dyantyi (deputy president), Tsakani Tshivhiti (secretary general), Zama
Khanyase (1st deputy secretary general), Venus Blennies (2nd deputy secretary general) and Jacob Tau (treasurer general). Photo: Lunga Mzangwe
The ANC Youth League (ANCYL) is likely to support the highest bidder for its vote at the party’s 2027 national elective conference, according to senior party leaders.
The league held its national elective conference this week, where its president Collen Malatji was elected uncontested along with his slate.
The league is expected to play a significant role in determining who is chosen as the new ANC president at the party’s 2027 national elective conference, succeeding Cyril Ramaphosa.
Many within the party believe the ANCYL is most likely to support current secretary general Fikile Mbalula should he decide to stand for the top position.
A senior member of the national executive committee (NEC) told the Mail & Guardian that it was difficult to predict who the party’s youth wing would ultimately support, adding that it was more likely to back whoever paid the most for its vote.
The source who declined to be named described the league as a “crisis” when it came to money.
“These kids like money. The only thing you can say is that Collen is not likely to work with Paul [Mashatile, the deputy president]. If you look at the lifestyle, it doesn’t look very ordinary. They will tell you, ‘Give us this and we will support you’,” the NEC insider said.
The influence of the youth league at the elective conference cannot be doubted and it has previously played a significant role for those seeking nominations to advance their ambitions.
Sources have previously told the M&G that the league holds a 10% vote at the conference, although the source who spoke this week disputed this.
“It is not necessarily that they have 10%. The youth league is calculated as a province in terms of nominations, but in voting it might only be the officials, depending on how credentials are determined.
“It might only be those in their national executive committee who vote. The ANC might decide to give it 20 delegates who vote, just like the Women’s League,” the sources said.
“This is how they play an important part.
“Let’s assume the ANC says a person needs three provinces for nomination. If the Youth League nominates you, then you already have one province.
“It helps towards being nominated, but for voting, we can’t determine if their vote will be 10%.”
Another senior ANC source concurred that the league would likely “go with Mbaks (Mbalula)” for party president in 2027, although this was not cast in stone.
The insider repeated the assertion that money would probably be a factor in the Youth League’s ultimate decision. They described the exchange of money for support as a harmful culture that should not be encouraged within the party.
“The problem with this is that people end up voting for the highest bidder and people who do not have money will not make it,” they said.
A third source, this one within the youth league itself, told the M&G that it would probably support Mbalula if he ran for the top post but also stressed that this was not guaranteed.
Responding to the allegations, Malatji told M&G that it was not the first time money-for-votes accusations had been levelled against the ANCYL, noting that they surfaced even at its 2023 conference.
The people who made such allegations were keen to splinter and capture the youth league, and were frustrated at their failure to do so, he said. He cited the just ended conference as evidence of the unity with the organisation.
“We are a struggling organisation, we fund-raise on our own and even at our conferences we convene under difficult conditions because we do not have resources. If we loved money, some of us would have taken positions in parliament and anywhere else,” he said.
“It is evident that they can’t find any dirt on the youth league because the youth league is rising and it is becoming a very powerful organisation, influential and everyone who doesn’t want progress is working hard to stop the unstoppable tsunami of the youth league.
“We will affirm whatever leader we want to affirm when the process comes because we are a voting organisation at conference.”
He also dismissed suggestions that the ANCYL was aligned with Mbalula, saying it respected him and supported his work as the secretary general of the party.
“All our gatherings have been addressed by all the leaders of the ANC; the president of the ANC has addressed our gatherings and almost all officials of the ANC have addressed the gathering of the ANCYL,” he said.
“I just don’t understand why there is a specific focus on Mbalula when our national general council was addressed by comrade Paul Mashatile, our rally in Kwa Ndebele was addressed by comrade Paul Mashatile. There are no facts to this, I want to unite the ANC.”
On Monday during a media briefing on the state of readiness of the conference, Malatji said the succession debate in the ANC was not yet opened.
He said the ANCYL has a delegation in the party national conference saying when the time is right, they would be forced to convene their own meeting to agree who they must nominate or support in 2027.
“We cannot run away from it but don’t rush it. Our focus now is the conference and next year is to protect the ANC to win its hegemony, back to power.”