The African National Congress working committee this week approved the election of the top five leaders of the youth league after a bruising electoral battle at the youth conference in Bloemfontein.
This is what newly elected president Julius Malema shared in a recent interview.
Your election as the new president of the ANCYL is disputed by some members of the youth league. Does this concern you?
It is not a concern to me. In time we are confident people will live with the decisions taken by congress.
How are you planning to heal divisions within the youth league?
There are no divisions in the youth league. What we saw in Mangaung was active campaigning around issues of preference. Now people will have to come together and unite behind the elected leadership. If there is anybody who still wants to perpetuate the divisions and continue to lobby against the elected leadership, that person will be acting against the ANC national working committee decision and the congress decision. Such individuals will be subjected to disciplinary action.
It appears that succession battles have become more important than policy discussions in the ANCYL.
I do not agree with that because this is the only succession in the youth league which was so tense and contested in such a way that people were not ready to deal with issues of policy.
But generally throughout the history of the youth league policy has been a point of concern for all members. This congress to a certain extent was characterised by lack of thorough political preparation from branch level up.
We have seen the purging of ANCYL leaders who held different opinions in the past few years. It is alleged that as the ANCYL provincial secretary in Limpopo you were involved in purging those who differed with you. Your comment?
I have never participated in any kind of purging.
The only thing we do to people who have a problem respecting leadership is to engage membership on political education. We are not going to purge anybody. Songezo Mjongile for instance and Saki Mofokeng joined and led the youth league before us and we will always respect them for that.
Our contestation against them was not against their leadership capacity or the views they held. It was a contest more of a new generation, which is fighting to come in, and an older generation, who refuses to leave and make space for the new.
Some commentators have described you as a pompous and reckless leader.
Everybody is entitled to his opinion about me. I occupy a public office and you can say whatever you want about me. Criticism is most welcome because this will build us as young people.
How different would your leadership style be to that of your predecessor, Fikile Mbalula?
We are serving different generations. Mbalula belonged to the generation of [late ANCYL founder] Peter Mokaba. We will not be [the same as] as the Mbalula generation. We have our own challenges and we don’t think Mbalula’s shoes are relevant here.
We will have to bring in the shoes that will fit the younger generation.
Unemployment is one of the major problems facing the youth today. What is going to be your approach to this problem?
The problem of unemployment of the youth and the people of South Africa lies largely in the economic policy of our country. You cannot have an economy that is growing and failing to absorb its own people.
What economic system will work best in South Africa to absorb the unemployed into the economy?
There is no problem with the current economic system of our country and especially the economic policy of the ANC. The problem is that when the policy is implemented it appears to become something else, as opposed to what should benefit our people.
The economy of this country is very clear in terms of the wealth of the country being shared and the people taking part in the growth of the economy.
How should Africa and South Africa place itself in relation to India and China?
We need to relate to China and India as a sovereign state, but we need to respect the fact that there are trade benefits between us. But we should not run the risk of colonialism of a special type, in particular by the Chinese. We appreciate and welcome the investment they want to make in the continent, but they should do it jointly with the Africans.
We need people to invest out of goodwill, people who have the intention to build Africa and who can assist Africans to be their own economic liberators.
If you were president of the country, what would your top three policy interventions be?
Unemployment, poverty, HIV/Aids should be the priority issues for our government.
Who is the world leader you admire most?
Fidel Castro. I had an opportunity to shake his hand last year before he retired. He is the best of the best.
You are known to be one of the vocal supporters of ANC president Jacob Zuma. Do you believe his chances of becoming the country’s next president would be compromised by his corruption trial?
I personally want to lobby the congress of the youth league in June to resolve that Zuma’s case must be removed from the roll. I think we have reached a point where we agree that Zuma’s case is a political case. And once we agree it is a political case, it means it needs a political intervention. It cannot be approached legally as a normal case.
I don’t understand even after Polokwane why the ANC is not taking this matter up seriously.