By The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) in the Free State province has expressed unhappiness in the organisation citing a number of issues including being overlooked in key provincial government roles.
Though the League has welcomed the election of MaQueen Letsoha-Mathae as the new Premier in the province, the ANCYL is not happy with her and the party for not appointing a young person at the age of 35 and under in one of the ministries, in particular the Department of Agriculture or Sports, Arts and Culture.
The Free State Chairperson of the ANCYL Xolani Tseletsele told the media that Zama Sigwebela is the only young member of Legislature and should have been recognised by appointing him MEC of either department.
“How is it that the even with the reconstitution of the Legislature’s Office Bearers that he was still overlooked despite being far more experienced than some of the first time members of the institution? This is quite astonishing and nonsensical.
In terms of the EXCO, despite the Premier having reduced the amount of MEC’s from 10 to 9, we believe that a consideration of Cde Zama for the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development or the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture should have been made in the interest of including young people as part of generational mix,” said Tseletsele.
Venting their frustrations, the Chairperson said the ANCYL is aggrieved by the ANC and the Premier for appointing COSATU member as Provincial Secretary while COSATU played no role in campaigning for the ANC during the campaigning period leading up to the national and provincial elections in May 2024. He said instead COSATU played a role in the loss of votes as they fragmented the organisation’s support through the promotion of anarchy and marches that affected service delivery.
“It is for these reasons we are of the view that Cde Mahlatsi’s appointment as an MEC should be withdrawn and that he be replaced by Cde Zama Sigwebela,” said Xolani Tseletsele.
The results of the recent elections show that support for the ANC in the province is declining, unless something drastic happens, the ANC in the Free State province might find itself in a coalition government or completely out of power.
The ANCYL says the ANC lost votes because of politics of denial. Tseletsele said the party was warned about the new kids on the block, the MK party and ACT making inroads in the Free State and preying on their support, but the leadership took it for granted.
“Instead of addressing the politically demoralised state of election structures, the ANC Provincial Elections Team (PET) was more preoccupied with politics of denial and obsession with downplaying the existence of opposition parties like the MK Party and ACT in the Free State province
Despite a number of warnings from volunteers on the ground about some of these parties making inroads into ANC strongholds, the response from the PET leadership would be to rubbish those warnings without substantive facts or due consideration. Furthermore, there was a lack of voter education on the 3 ballots which were used on Election Day by IEC which explains why voters for the National Ballot compared to provincial ballot differ and with big margins,” said the Chairperson.
