ANC Youth League president Collen Malatji. Photo: @Collen_Malatji3/X
Serious cracks are appearing in the ANC Youth League leadership slate, which was elected unopposed at its conference in July last year.
But league president Collen Malatji has denied allegations that the organisation is divided into two camps, one led by himself and the other by the league’s secretary general.
According to an league source, Malatji, his deputy Phumzile Mgcina, and treasurer Zwelo Masilela have formed a “pact” to undermine secretary general Mntuwoxolo Ngudle and his two deputies, Tsakane Shivitu and Olga Seate.
Malatji said there was no fight between him and Ngudle, and that the entire leadership was on good terms.
He said the rumours were being started by people who wanted to see the leadership of the youth league divided.
“These are not new. We have heard them before from people who said when we were elected that we would be divided within six months. We have been [leading] over a year now, and we are going to finish [the term],” Malatji said.
He said youth league officials were running a “very tight ship” and relations between himself and Ngudle were not strained.
Ngudle was tasked with running the organisation while his job was to give political direction to the league, and Masilela was responsible for bringing in money.
“The SG [secretary general] has been moving around the country working structures together with the [deputy secretary generals]. There’s no fight. We meet as officials all the time,” Malatji said.
He and Ngudle were to have travelled to Venezuela, but it was decided that the secretary general should stay behind and “run the organisation”.
Malatji said the youth league’s leadership was “a threat” to many because it was “powerful” and was heading towards achieving its goals, without elaborating what those were.
He has threatened to expel youth league members who continue to disrupt branch general meetings in Gauteng as it prepares for its first provincial conference since 2014, and that the police would be enlisted to deal with any violence before the gathering.
Last week, the Mail & Guardian reported that some youth league members called for the conference to be halted, accusing the leadership of manipulating processes to benefit their preferred candidates
Provincial convenor Amukelani Mashele and national working committee (NWC) member Ntombi Magwaza have been accused of abusing processes in a bid to install Samukelisiwe Madonsela as the provincial deputy secretary.
Branch meetings have also been disrupted by members throwing stones at each other, with shots being fired on more than one occasion.
Sources in the youth league said members were being used to disrupt branch meetings, including one held at Meadowlands in Soweto last Saturday, at which one member was allegedly held hostage.
“Some of them are uMkhonto WeSizwe party members sent to destabilise. They have been deliberately [used] to question the legitimacy of the Gauteng conference. I can assure you that the conference of Gauteng is going to sit before the end of this year,” the he said.
“If it means [the conference] must be postponed, there’s nothing wrong if [the provincial structure] is not ready. But we are going to make sure at the national level that they are ready. They have perfected their work and they are going to go to the conference before Christmas.”