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Independent Newspapers<\/p>\n
From left, ANC Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, Cosas Deputy President Ntuthuko Mathombothi, ANCYL National Convener Mzwandile Masina, Cosas President Tlhologelo Malatji and Zizi Kodwa cut the cake during the ANCYL’s 69th Anniversary Cake Cutting Ceremony. Photo: Dumisani Sibeko<\/p>\n
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Johannesburg – The ANC Youth League apologised on Tuesday to everyone it had wronged and insulted in the recent past. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is important that on this special occasion, we offer a public apology to everyone who was insulted and wronged by the organisation,\u201d said the league\u2019s national task team convener, Mzwandile Masina. <\/p>\n
He was speaking at the league\u2019s 69th anniversary celebration in Joburg. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe ANC finds itself in courts as a result of our actions. More recently, we lost a case lodged by a journalist at The Star newspaper, who was called a drunk by this very organisation of ours,\u201d he said . <\/p>\n
The league did not have the money to pay the journalist, but could only apologise. <\/p>\n
At the Durban celebration, former national police commissioner Bheki Cele said young people should pay no heed to the league\u2019s former president, Julius Malema. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf we allow the youth league to go astray we are stifling our youth. Be militant, but with respect,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
It was \u201cunAfrican\u201d to insult older people, even when this made you popular. <\/p>\n
He said Malema\u2019s call for economic emancipation was an abuse of the concept and that there were steps to achieve this, like studying. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t wake up and become rich. You work for it.\u201d <\/p>\n
At the Joburg event, ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa pleaded with the interim national leadership of the league not to behave like Malema. <\/p>\n
Ramaphosa \u2013 who fired Malema from the ANC \u2013 did not mention him by name but cautioned Masina\u2019s leadership against being disrespectful towards the ANC leadership. He said the past leadership of the league had developed a \u201cpersonality cult\u201d and was a \u201cbe all and everything of the ANC Youth League\u201d. <\/p>\n
He warned: \u201cThe ANC is about collective leadership. You should guard against shouting at the ANC leadership and insulting them. It is un-ANC.\u201d <\/p>\n
It was Ramaphosa \u2013 then the ANC\u2019s national disciplinary committee of appeals chairman \u2013 who decided to terminate Malema\u2019s membership of the ANC, because of ill-discipline, in February last year. <\/p>\n
At the time, Malema\u2019s membership was suspended for five years by the ANC\u2019s national disciplinary committee under Derek Hanekom, but Ramaphosa and his team overturned Hanekom\u2019s ruling and found that Malema\u2019s expulsion was the only appropriate sentence. <\/p>\n
It was clear from Ramaphosa\u2019s address that the ruling party was expecting Masina and his team to toe the line or face the same fate as Malema and his supporters \u2013 who have since formed the Economic Freedom Fighters party. <\/p>\n
Ramaphosa urged youth league members to do serious introspection. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the first time that the ANC Youth League was disbanded. You must ask yourself why a decision was taken to disband you. You must ask yourself why. You must reposition the ANC Youth League,\u201d Ramaphosa said. <\/p>\n
He said it was the new leadership\u2019s duty to rebuild branches of the youth league and improve its brand name. <\/p>\n
Ramaphosa called parties like the EFF, which were calling for \u201ceconomic freedom in our lifetime\u201d, \u201cplagiarisers\u201d who borrowed dangerous ideas. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe ANC Youth League must give substance of what economic transformation is. You are the inheritors of this land and the economy. The ANC is the only party that can deliver economic freedom,\u201d Ramaphosa insisted. <\/p>\n
However, he urged his members to innovate ideas and develop new ways to build the ANC. \u201cYou must create your own business. Do not become tenderpreneurs, which are going to fizzle out in the near future,\u201d Ramaphosa said. <\/p>\n
The Mercury<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Independent Newspapers From left, ANC Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, Cosas Deputy President Ntuthuko Mathombothi, ANCYL National Convener Mzwandile Masina, Cosas President Tlhologelo Malatji and Zizi Kodwa cut the cake during the ANCYL’s 69th Anniversary Cake Cutting Ceremony. Photo: Dumisani Sibeko Related Stories Shivambu defends abuse of reporter Apologise or pay, ANCYL and Shivambu told \u2018Only […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-22557","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22557\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}