ANCYL ‘has been strong force for change in ANC’

Tzaneen – The ANC Youth League has been a strong force for change in the ANC since its formation, party deputy president Jacob Zuma said at the league’s 61st anniversary celebrations on Saturday.

“The ANCYL has intervened in the ANC at crucial moments in our history,” Zuma, dressed in traditional animal skin, said to a packed Nkonwankowa Stadium outside Tzaneen in Limpopo. “It was the youth who introduced the need for the ANC’s mass character; its move away from the league of gentlemen. It was the youth league that introduced mass action.”

The league is among Zuma’s strongest political supporters. Zuma is travelling around the country in what is known as “heart and mind” campaign garnering support before his corruption trial next year.

President Thabo Mbeki fired Zuma after a Durban High Court judge found there was a “generally corrupt” relationship between him and his former financial adviser Schabir Shaik.

Zuma emphasised the importance of youth in putting pressure on the “mother body” to ensure the party remained relevant to the country’s political situation and did not stagnate.

ANCYL president Fikile Mbalula said the league was not owned by Mbeki or Zuma. It was owned by the ANC. “When we defend the ANC deputy president against cannibalism, and defend him for the rule of law, we are not ashamed,” Mbalula said to cheers from the crowd estimated at about 10 000 people. – Sapa