ANCYL undermining ANC, says Mantashe

JOHANNESBURG – The ANC Youth League undermined the leadership of the ANC by its comments on helping bring about regime change in Botswana, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said yesterday.

‘Unfortunately, when it comes to the ANCYL we have had many incidents that show the desire to undermine the ANC leadership under the pretext [of] not understanding the relationship between the two [ANC and ANCYL],’ Mantashe said in a statement.The row between the league and its mother body continued, with Mantashe calling it ‘defiant’ for responding to its first rebuke over Botswana by seeking to ‘isolate’ ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu.Mantashe said the ANC had informed ANCYL secretary general Sindiso Magaqa that the party would be releasing a statement about the matter before it did so. The ANC would meet the league’s leadership on Monday and discuss why the ANCYL opted to then respond to the ANC in public.The ANC would also decide how to respond to the league’s actions, as they constituted a ‘serious transgression’.He said this ‘desire’ to undermine ANC leaders was publicly displayed by the ANCYL this week when it announced it wanted to help Botswana opposition parties topple that country’s government.’Rule 7.4 of our [ANCYL] constitution is clear that ‘the youth league will function as an autonomous body within the overall structure of the ANC, of which it will be integral part, with its own constitution, rules and regulations, provided that these shall not be in conflict with the constitution and policies of the ANC’,’ Mantashe said.Managing international relations and implementing conference resolutions was a responsibility of the ANC’s decision making body, the national executive committee.’The relations with our neighbours are clearly stated in the Freedom Charter, Clause 10; There shall be Peace and Stability.’South Africa shall be a fully independent state which respects the rights and sovereignty of all nations. South Africa shall strive to maintain world peace and the settlement of all international disputes by negotiations, not war.’The people of the protectorates Basutoland [now Lesotho], Bechuanaland [now Botswana] and Swaziland shall be free to decide for themselves their own future. The right of all peoples of Africa to independence and self-government shall be recognised, and shall be the basis of close co-operation,’ he said.- Nampa-Sapa