Durban — A misunderstanding around voting delegates of the KwaZulu-Natal ANC Youth League (KZN ANCYL) conference, that was to sit from Friday to Sunday, has been blamed for the collapse of the long-awaited elective conference.
ANCYL spokesperson Sibonelo Nomvalo, who is also a Provincial Congress Preparatory Committee (PCPCP) member, said the registration process of voting candidates was to begin on Friday, but on trying to enter the registration venue at the ANC Dr Pixley Ka Isaka Seme House, in Durban, the candidates were turned away by security.
“The organising committee was only able to resolve the impasse on Saturday after much deliberations – the candidates were then able to register.
“When the conference was to start, we discovered many discrepancies, including that many candidates did not qualify to be part of the conference.
“As part of the organising structure, we then demanded ANC packs must be used instead of the normal tags, to verify members. But the National Youth Task Team (NYTT) led by Mafika Mndebele refused, because they were trying to push their preconceived agenda for their preferred candidates to emerge at the conference. They had bused in people from all over KZN, and bribed them. Because of their refusal for the packs to be used instead of normal tags, the congress fell apart. As PCPC members we then decided to suspend Mafika Mndebele as NYTT provincial co-ordinator indefinitely.”
Nomvalo accused Mndebele of having taken all the conference decisions unilaterally.
“He never involved anyone, but did organising and preparations all by himself. We knew nothing about the venue, accommodation arrangements, food … We didn’t even know about who was funding the congress,” Nomvalo said.
Mndebele denied all allegations levelled against him by Nomvalo.
On his suspension, Mndebele said: “The terms of reference of appointing the PCPC are clear. The PCPC can’t create a vacancy, and then say they can remove someone. PCPC members don’t have the powers to suspend me.
“I take this suspension as a joke. They are only trying to gain traction by using my name, making themselves popular by thinking they are embarrassing me. This is nothing but an act of people desperate for power. They don’t want the congress to go ahead.”
Continuing on his war path, Mndebele said: “Those guys are always fighting me, accusing me of all sorts of wrongs. They have even accused me of having raised funds for the conference alone, but in their financial report they say the congress was funded by me.
“There are ANC leaders behind this – who caused the collapse of the youth league conference. These ‘leaders’ are using money to bribe people to achieve their evil deals. They disrupted this congress in a well-funded mafia style,” Mndebele fumed.
He said his detractors gathered people to the congress from Durban taxi ranks in buses and bribed them. They then called security to the venue, saying the “delegates” had been assaulted.
“After a staged ‘scuffle’ intended to disrupt the conference, we cancelled the congress. They did this out of desperation because they knew that they were not going to win at the conference. They can only ask the NYTT – the appointing authority – if they want me fired.”
Daily News