What is the definition of succesful District Council? Why is space closed for comrades in Linda Jabane that they now strongly feel that they should issue a press statement to declare their leadership preferences? What will happen if all the districts ruch to the newspapers and declare their views? I also thought that only Provincial Councils will be the platfiorm to engage with the leadership question. Anyway, who cares what they think. By the way, who are all these people that they are proposing. I honestly know Comrade Deputy National Secretary. The fact that they are members of the YCL entitles them to stand at Congress, so I am not questioning that right. All the best to this team.
I like this part of the statement "As much as we respect Comrade Buti Manamela and are grateful for his leadership throughout the years, we cannot nonetheless relegate the entire fate of the organisation to one individual". This is so true because Nkwanyana was never available and Masondo was in the United States of America. So let us ensure that whoever is elected at Mafikeng will not have the fate of the organisation being "relagated to one individual" But I guess the Congress should ultimately decide on this matters. See you after Congress, HAPPY. And I hope you will be HAPPY! ________________________________ From: Linda Jabane <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Wed, December 1, 2010 12:28:41 PM Subject: [YCLSA Discussion] YCL LINDA JOBANE DISTRICT COUNCIL STATEMENT The YCL Linda Jobane District Council Statement The Young Communist League of South Africa in Linda Jobane (Johannesburg) held a highly successful District Council on 28 November 2010 in Braamfontein. The Council thoroughly discussed the state of the YCL at district, provincial level as well as the upcoming 3rd National Congress. Linda Jobane has become the biggest District in Gauteng and its membership is on the increase. State of the Youth The District Council considered the state of the youth in South Africa, the prevailing economic inequalities, health challenges as well as the lack of access to quality public education amongst the vast majority of young working class people. We also noted the increasing commodification of basic services such as water, electricity, transport, and health, that this is accompanied by increasing spate of disconnections and escalation of the cost of living for the poor. It was observed that townships such as Orange Farm, Diepsloot, Ivory Park, Alexandra and Kliptown are still haunted by massive levels of poverty and deprivation, a factor that has led to the working class youth many areas in Gauteng taking to the streets in protest. The factories, the mines and the land in South Africa are still in the hands of a white capitalist minority. Against this backdrop, the Council resolved that there is a need to build a YCL that can: 1. fearlessly champion and advance extra-parliamentary (workplace and community) struggles where capitalist brutality is most felt by the working class 2. assert its independence and raise issues sharply such as the SACP’s contestation of state power as a political party of the working class and questions about the ownership and control of the means of production, private property, and particularly the nationalisation of the key sectors of the economy such as land, mines, and banks. 3. has the capacity to undertake campaigns such as free education, free sanitary towels, youth cooperatives and youth access to land The Council was also unanimous in its support for COSATU’s Growth Path Towards Full Employment. YCL Constitutional Provision for a Full time National Secretary The Council noted the attempts by some to campaign for a change in the constitution of the YCL in order to allow the National Secretary to remain in this position whilst serving as a member of parliament. The District Council resolved that a change in the constitution of the YCL would not be in the best interest of the organisation, the working class as well as the struggle for socialism. Whilst we are not opposed to communists playing a role in bourgeois parliaments and using the parliamentary rostrum in a revolutionary manner, we are nonetheless convinced that the YCL needs to develop an internal capacity to coordinate campaigns and increase its visibility and rigour when it comes to extra-parliamentary struggles and should therefore have a full-time National Secretary, a readily available crop of cadres who tirelessly engage in the work of building the organisationAs such the Council was unanimous in declaring that the position of the National Secretary should remain a fulltime position. We therefore believe that Comrade Buti Manamela must continue his role as an ANC MP and that the 3rd National Congress must elect a leader willing to serve as YCL National Secretary in a full-time capacity. The YCL is not the SACP The District Council also noted the mischievous attempts by some in the YCL to compare the YCL with the SACP by arguing that the National Secretary of the YCL must be allowed to serve both as an MP and as a YCL National Secretary. The Council vehemently rejected this view on the following basis: 1. The SACP has a far bigger membership and profile than the YCL. The Party continued to operate underground whilst the YCL only was only reestablished in 2003 since its banishment under the Suppression of Communism Act in 1950 2. The Vision 2010 of the YCL remains unrealised and this is a major disappointment. Moving forward, there needs to be a concerted effort to launch structures of the YCL in every ward so that the young working class is not in want of this organisation’s leadership and direction. There was also an attempt by some in the leadership of the Province to advocate the case that Comrade Buti Manamela must be pushed for a Ministerial position in the current cabinet. The view of the Council was that this is an opportunistic manner of doing things. Not only is this view foreign to YCL structures, in particular the PEC which has never resolved on it, but it further tempers with the prerogative of the President of the Republic to appoint ministers. As much as we respect Comrade Buti Manamela and are grateful for his leadership throughout the years, we cannot nonetheless relegate the entire fate of the organisation to one individual. The YCL is a vibrant organisation of young people and has no leadership crisis. There are certainly many young communists that can be able to takeover the YCL’s leadership with fervour and tenacity. In this regard the Council nominated the following comrades for the National Committee Office Bearer positions. Nominations for Leadership The District Council resolved to forward the following comrades for the leadership of the YCL · National Secretary – Khayelihle Nkwanyana (KwaZulu Natal) · National Chairperson – Mesuli Nqondwana (Eastern Cape) · National Treasurer – Nhlakanipho Zuma ( Mpumalanga) · National Deputy Secretary – Phindile Kunene (Gauteng) · National Deputy Chairperson – George Raphela (Limpopo) We are open to engagement by other structures of the YCL about these leadership proposal. The Role of the SACP The YCL in Linda Jobane expressed disappointment at the manner in which certain leaders of the SACP chose to enter the YCL succession debate through supporting a particular faction in the league. This is divisive and unconstructive. It is probably fuelled by the perception that those who prefer leadership change in the YCL also have a problem with the current SACP leadership. This perception is of course untested, but is has been employed extensively by those who prefer to keep the status quo, to lobby for support. The Party must be very careful not to fall into the trap of perceiving certain comrades in the YCL as ordained with the inalienable right to defend the Party or as the correct and anointed leaders of the YCL. We all love the SACP and we all have the right to defend and strengthen it and advance its revolutionary programme. The Party should desist from painting YCL members who are opposed to a change in the constitution of the YCL with all sorts of counter-revolutionary colours whilst elevating the faction which is pro-constitutional change to the level of being angels or mini-Gods. Whatever happens in the 3rd National Congress, the SACP must still retain its legitimacy as the leader of the working class in South Africa. As the biggest District in Gauteng, we will do all in our powers to ensure that the views expressed in the District Council find expression in the structures of the YCL. We also urge that discipline, transparency, and fairness prevail in the 3rd National Congress. Attempts to commodify democracy through enticing delegates with money, five star accommodation, whiskeys, and other expensive gifts must never find expression in our YCL and must be exposed whenever they rear their ugly heads. Issued by the YCL Linda Jabane District Contact – Happy Molobye – District Secretary – 079 534 1530 -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. 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