New ANCYL leaders must resonate with young South Africans: Mbalula...

Fikile Mbalula. (GCIS)

Johannesburg - The newly elected leaders of the ANCYL must be dynamic and resonate with the youth of today, national task team convener, Sports and Recreation Minister Fikile Mbalula said on Thursday.
"Young people and situations are not constant, they are ever dynamic. They like simple things. Young people want dynamic young people [as their leaders]."
He was briefing reporters on the state of readiness for the youth league's elective congress, set to take place from September 4 to September 6, in Midrand, north of Johannesburg.
"We want them to be dynamic and to also respond to broader societal questions and to resonate with the youth of today, in relation to understanding what young people like, and where they are located."
He said during his term as an ANCYL president, young people were concerned with the revolutionary struggle. Today's youth were fighting a different struggle.
"They understand that they've got to fight for their own survival and define what they seek to be in this democratic dispensation."
He said the new leaders would need to expose the youth to the opportunities available to them. Wherever young people gathered, the ANCYL needed to be there.
"The task of the youth league is to take all those opportunities to them and say 'Don't despair, this is what democracy can offer you and these are the opportunities of democracy'.
"That is the role of this youth league. It is no longer just a vehicle of toyi-toying and throwing stones, it is about mobilising and it is going to require a special cadre, which we currently have in the organisation."
Talking about the age of ANCYL leaders, Mbalula said the ANC could not interfere with the youth league's choices.
"If the youth want a 35-year-old person... it is their choice, it is not ours. But the principle is a person who is 35 years old can stand, some of us became presidents up until [we were] 37. It caught up with us, but we were elected below 35."

News24