Recently, there have been criticisms of the ANC Youth League which suggest that the ANCYL should abandon its militancy and radical approach to addressing societal issues and instead focus on mature politics and diplomacy.
In contrast, others have falsely accused the ANCYL of lacking militancy and radicalism, particularly because we recently criticised members of the executive council appointed by Premier Panyaza Lesufi in Gauteng by arguing that they do not deserve reappointment to the provincial cabinet due to their poor performance in government and their failure to deliver satisfactory electoral results, with the ANC in Gauteng dropping drastically from 50.19% to 34.76% in the space of five years.
The ANCYL is, by its very nature, an evolving organisation from an ideological, organisational and political point of view. Since time immemorial, the social formation and the structure of society have been a defining factor in the evolution of the ANCYL since its formation and the existence of apartheid.
While radicalism and militancy played significant roles, there was also an ideological astuteness that gave rise to the ANC Youth League after its formation in 1944. Its founders – Nelson Mandela, Anton Lembede, Mxolisi Majombozi, AP Mda, OR Tambo and Walter Sisulu – were characterised not only by militancy and radicalism, but also by a firm ideological stance against national oppression and class oppression.
A misleading notion
The misconception of the ANCYL’s existence stems from a lack of understanding of revolutionary theory and philosophy which define both the ANC and the ANCYL – among those are the National Democratic Revolution and the Freedom Charter. The notion that the ANCYL’s task is to mobilise the youth to support the ANC, and to serve merely as a preparatory school for its members who may one day lead the ANC, is misleading.
The misconception about the ANCYL’s existence among scholars, activists, and some ANC leaders arises from a lack of understanding that the consciousness of our masses in the ANCYL does not exist to negate the social structure of society, but our consciousness is defined by our ever-evolving society. Therefore, the ANCYL cannot be hamstrung by the conformity of radicalism and militancy, which are defined outside of societal issues.
Hence Karl Marx contended that “it is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being determines their consciousness.” Marx provided a comprehensive account of this statement in The German Ideology.
Central to the argument is the idea that our failure to understand society would lead to a grave misunderstanding about the existence of the ANCYL and its role in the 21st century in our society, which is dynamic by nature.
Electoral decline
Of course, whenever there are issues that impact the youth directly or indirectly, the ANCYL must respond. In the current context, the ANC has faced electoral decline since the 2016 local government elections, followed by recent further declines in the provincial and national elections.
It is the responsibility of the ANCYL, which will inherit the ANC, to hold accountable those who led these elections and failed to achieve the expected results.
For instance, in the 2021 local government elections, the ANC in Gauteng received an aggregated vote outcome of 36.6%. This should have been a warning to our leadership that the ANC might face a drastic electoral decline in 2024 in the provincial and national elections, but instead, those in charge of running elections continued with business as usual, hence the ANC received 34.76% in Gauteng.
Critical assessment backlash
Therefore, the ANCYL must critically assess the choices and tactics of those who have led the election campaigns since 2016 when the ANC’s electoral decline began. Nevertheless, when we, the ANCYL, express criticism of these leaders and highlight their weaknesses in managing elections, we often face backlash.
This reaction indicates a lack of strategic foresight and an unwillingness to engage in self-correction, leading us to take a firm stance against those ANC leaders.
The reductionist thinkers attempt to compartmentalise the existence of the ANCYL to militancy and radicalism which is subjectively measured by their parameters which is exclusive from criticising ANC deployees in government’s poor performance.
Their criticism also ignores that the ANCYL’s existence is inherently linked to societal evolution. Our philosophy of understanding society as the ANCYL is in reflection of our circumstances, which appear upside down as in a camera obscura.
We do not just guess or prophesy societal issues that we want to address, but we critically reflect on the evolution of society and its social structures such as the economy, human evolution and modern technology. Furthermore, in 1999, the ANC identified the loyalty vote as a liability that can be decommissioned depending on the performance of our organisation in the state over time.
Currently, our ANC is living that prophecy of the shipwrecking spoilers who predicted that the ship they were steering would not reach its destination, and therefore hoped that the sea would push it to its destination.
Our ANC knew that the loyalty votes were dependent on service delivery by the state. Currently, 60% of the population is youth, and our deployees in the state preside over a society that is characterised by the high cost of living, poverty, inequality and a high level of unemployment, with most of our municipalities being in a dysfunctional state. But still, our ANC leaders expect 60% of the youth to support the ANC – we are captives of our disillusion.
Failure to meet challenges
Therefore the ANC’s existence is threatened by the persisting and emerging challenges that our philosophy failed to comprehensively give account to, such as the climate crisis, State Capture, and emerging technology.
These issues, however, do not negate the existence of 12 million people who are unemployed, 70% of whom are youth, amid poverty, inequality and a saturated economic structure.
From a Marxist materialist perspective, the movement of society defines the evolution of its nature, which means that everything around us exists in motion. As the mode of production has evolved from slavery to feudalism and to capitalism, it has also evolved with its people and how they respond to productive forces.
Similarly, the ANCYL has evolved to remain relevant and address the emerging challenges that arise from these intersecting dynamics. In this case, the ANCYL cannot simply shout about service delivery issues while conservative elements deployed within the state fail to take accountability for their poor performance.
Of course, the ANCYL should focus on addressing issues such as new energy vehicles and generative artificial intelligence to build digital economies that are inclusive of our youth. However, misdiagnosis of the ANCYL’s posture in the context of electoral decline must also be addressed, as placing the blame for the ANC’s electoral decline on the ANCYL is weak logical thinking.
This misdiagnosis of the ANCYL stems from the belief that the ANCYL cannot be critical of ANC leaders without negating its militancy and radicalism, which is flawed thinking.
This is no different from those who attempted to deter the formation of the ANCYL such as Dr AB Xuma, the president of the ANC in the 1940s. He initially rejected the formation of the ANCYL mainly because he foresaw that it would be critical of the ANC’s strategy and tactics against the apartheid system.
So, it cannot be that in the 21st century, ANC leaders refuse to self-correct and take the path that improves the livelihood of our citizens.
To conclude, the ANCYL of our time does not exist merely to mobilise youth for the ANC or serve as a preparatory school for future ANC members and leaders. Instead, our ANCYL exists to challenge the social structures that resist transformation, but this does not negate the fact that the ANCYL will mobilise the youth to rally behind the ANC.
Our radicalism and militancy should not be viewed through a narrow lens that isolates the ANCYL’s existence from the threat of the ANC losing loyal voters or failing to achieve radical transformation.
It is our responsibility to critically assess and hold accountable those who are failing the ANC by not meeting expectations in the state and outside of the state. DM
Daily Maverick
www.dailymaverick.co.za
