ANC: Youth League out of line

The ANC has slammed the ANC Youth League in the Northern Cape for being “disrespectful” after the league said on Wednesday its mother body should “start to respect” its leadership.

This followed a stern rebuke by the ANC earlier this week, calling for an apology after the league called National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) boss Menzi Simelane “a rented dog of a political conspiracy” over the arrest of Northern Cape MEC John Block on corruption charges.

Simelane is personally in charge of Block’s prosecution.

Block was granted bail on Wednesday, after spending several nights behind bars, and the ANC welcomed this.

Spokesman Jackson Mthembu said Block’s release would “provide him with an opportunity towards vindicating himself, as he has claimed no wrongdoing following allegations of corruption”.

He reiterated that the ANC had confidence in the judiciary and called on “all ANC structures” to “respect and give the legal process a chance to take its course and (to) refrain from unwarranted attacks on State agencies tasked with ensuring that the country is freed from crime and corruption”.

He also reiterated that the league was a structure of the ANC. “When ANC members speak outside ANC policy and discipline, we have every reason to worry and call them to order. We have a duty to guide the ANC Youth League and any other structures that are part of the ANC family all the way, including dealing with the matter concerning comrade Block,” he said.

Mthembu told Independent Newspapers the ANC would not be meeting the league about the issue but secretary-general Gwede Mantashe was likely to intervene.

“It is a political matter that needs to be attended to. Some young people are out of order,” he said.

Mthembu said the issue was unlikely to be discussed by the party at its national executive committee this weekend, as it was not on the agenda.

The league said in a statement on Wednesday it was “extremely disappointed” by the ANC’s rebuke in response to the outcome of a meeting of the league’s provincial leadership on Monday.

“The current leadership collective has a revolutionary responsibility to speak freely on any matter, including that of the provincial chairperson of the ANC comrade John Block without any fear of being silenced through press statements,” said league provincial secretary Shadrack Thlaole.

He said the league was “not a sub-committee of the ANC or a desk within the ANC”, and the ANC should raise any issues with the league internally.

At the party’s national general council in Durban in September, President Jacob Zuma warned that the league, despite being an autonomous body, was subject to ANC discipline and a structure of the party.

Mthembu said in an earlier statement the league was “out of line for rubbishing the state security agencies and the courts of law” and that Block was yet to have his day in court to defend himself.

“It is our belief in the workings of constitutional democracy that we have always maintained that comrade Block is innocent until proven guilty. Regardless of anyone’s stature or position in the ANC, government or society, no one is above the law,” he said.

He also said there was no truth in the league’s assertion that organs of state security, such as the NPA and the Hawks, had been set up “to operate as private armies of individuals or groupings other than putting the security interests of the country first”, emphasising that the ANC had confidence in these agencies.

NPA spokesman Mthunzi Mhaga said it would rather focus on the prosecution and not comment on the league’s statements.

“People lack basic understanding of our court system and we are willing to educate them,” he said.

Block was arrested last week on charges of tender fraud involving R112 million related to the purchase of water purification equipment, allegedly at inflated prices, in 2005 and 2006. His case comes amid leadership battles ahead of next year’s ANC provincial elective conference. - Political Bureau