Anybody who wants to challenge the legitimacy of the African National Youth League’s (ANCYL) controversially elected “top five”, led by Julius Malema, at this weekend’s league conference must first win a two-thirds majority.
So says the league’s secretary general, Vuyiswa Tulelo, who weighed in this week in defence of ANC president Jacob Zuma and Malema’s “kill for Zuma” statement.
The assertive Tulelo, league deputy secretary general for the past eight years, was elected secretary general at the abortive congress in Bloemfontein in April.
That conference will be finalised this weekend in Nasrec, Johannesburg, after round one ended in anarchy as delegates fought among themselves, threw water bottles at their leaders, booed speakers and disrupted proceedings.
The Mail & Guardian reported earlier this month that five provincial ANCYL structures had rejected Luthuli House’s endorsement of Malema and five other leaders.
The youth league asked the ANC to intervene after some delegates disputed Malema’s election as president. The delegates argued that Malema and his fellow officials were not chosen in a free and fair poll because a number of delegates were prevented from voting.
The KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, North West, Western Cape, Northern Cape and Eastern Cape regions now complain that the ANC overstepped its mandate by confirming the elections and failing to follow the conference recommendation that the allegations of improper procedure be investigated.
There were also reports this week that some delegates from Gauteng were planning a motion of no confidence in Malema’s leadership after his controversial statement that the youth league was prepared to take up arms and kill for Zuma. However, Lebogang Maile, a member of the Gauteng executive committee, rejected the idea of such a motion.
Interviewed this week, Tulelo told the M&G that anyone who wanted to overturn the election of leaders would need a two-thirds majority before a motion could be considered by congress.
“You will have to go back to delegates and explain why you think you have to start the process afresh,” she said. “Without their consensus it would be absolutely impossible, because the constitution of the youth league says to reverse any decision at the level of congress you need [a] two-thirds majority.”
She said the ANC would present a report on Friday on the outcome of its investigation into alleged voting irregularities at the April congress.
Regarding the complaints that the ANC did not follow the congress recommendation, Tulelo said the Nasrec encounter would determine whether that was the case.
She said the ANC gave feedback to the league’s provincial structures. Anyone with a complaint should have raised it at those meetings.
Tulelo was adamant that there would be no disruption of this week’s congress because the youth league had taken extraordinary measures to forestall it. “One of our shortcomings in Mangaung is that we allowed an open-ended way for people to get into congress.”
She said the organisation had been able to clear up the confusion about credentials. “We were cleared out all those who got on to the voter’s roll fraudulently. We are expecting 3 815 voting delegates and did pre-registrations, so we know exactly who is coming. We asked people to provide identification as evidence that they are delegates.”
Tulelo said her priority as secretary general is to instil discipline. She also plans to recruit more young women into the league and encourage them to take leadership positions. “I believe young women can swell the ranks of the youth league and be a formidable force. Women deal with issues in a completely different manner. If they disagree, it is very unlikely that they will use fists.”
Tulelo believes the media have taken Malema’s “kill for Zuma” remarks out of context. “It is unfortunate that when the youth league seeks to explain what it meant by this thing — that there is no way that we could take up arms in a literal sense — everybody says: ‘But you said it. Why did you say it?’
“This is a metaphor, which was used in a specific context. Even though the president of the youth league has committed himself not to use the word ‘kill’ again, people are still blaming him. If the Mail & Guardian has got the liberty to depict Malema as a baboon in this democracy and nobody finds anything wrong with that, why should he explain what he meant over and over again?”
Tulelo said she believes Zuma best represents what the ANC stands for and should be the party’s face in next year’s elections. The youth league has engaged lawyers from its ranks to find out how it can push for charges against Zuma to be dropped, she said.