Johannesburg- The ANC splinter group's answer to Julius Malema is causing
waves. Meet Anele Mda: outspoken, passionate and, until 31 October, an
executive committee member of the ANC Youth League.
Now the 30-year-old youth activist has been appointed to convene the youth wing
of the ANC breakaway party started by former defence minister Mosiuoa Lekota
and former Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa.
Mda is already getting people excited with her vision of a united South African
youth and of putting petty politics aside.
"We stand for inclusiveness and the high moral ground of young people in
general," said Mda, who has criticised the ANCYL for its exclusively black
leadership.
She quickly rose to national prominence and dominated media briefings with her
alternative perspective on youth leadership.
Scathing about Malema
In an interview with News24, Mda was scathing about ANCYL leader Julius Malema.
"I don't spend a lot of my time thinking about Malema, but when I see his
behaviour I think it's as simple as a wild animal's behaviour," she quipped.
"There isn't any domestic animal I liken Malema's behaviour to because I'm
going to do injustice to those animals."
She took a swipe at the youth league's backing of ANC president Jacob Zuma.
"If we have a leader whose morality has been exposed to not be in good stand
then we should not seek to back such individuals for the sake of our own
popularity," she told News24.
While Malema boasts of his politically-charged upbringing in Polokwane, Mda
earned her credentials serving in ANC heartland itself. Born in Bizana in the
Eastern Cape, she grew up in Mthata and founded an NGO, the Port St Johns HIV
and Aids Information Centre, when still in her late teens. She now works for
the Eastern Cape Youth Commission.
She called her NGO work with young girls an eye-opening experience and wants to
encourage a culture of volunteerism amongst SA youth.
"For example our Crime Foot Soldiers," she said, referring to one of many
initiatives to be discussed at a conference in January. "Young people must
become the ears and eyes of society."
Misgivings about the ANC
Mda says she had her first misgivings about the ANC and its youth league in
2005. "There was a gap between the then president of the ANC, Comrade Thabo
Mbeki, and the collective NEC at large."
She described how controversial decisions made by the ANC would be attributed
to Mbeki while the National Executive Committee would take credit for what
worked.
"I started to smell a rat and I began to feel wary of the whole thing. To my
knowledge of how the ANC operated, whether in bad or happier times, we stick
together."
She tried raising her concerns several times at various levels of the league,
but realised that political games were being played and positions earned.
"Certain individuals secured for themselves whatever it is they were promised,"
she said. "It was political manipulation."
The new youth wing
Cue the new youth wing, which Mda promises will focus on education, health, the
economy and the fight against crime.
"We no longer want our people continuously being fed by the hand of
government," she said. "We want to promote a culture of non-dependency."
But she is thin on detail on how these areas will be changed. A clear policy
will only emerge out of January's conference.
But one thing is certain. She's is stepping into a youth leadership vacuum in
the country, and attracting those Malema has alienated with his controversial
statements and allegiances. "We do not subscribe to the notion that says we
value party loyalty more than the requirements of general masses of our country
at large," she said.
COMMUNIST REGARDS
EVER ONWARD TO VICTORY
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