The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) has welcomed their newly elected unopposed president, Collen Malatji.
Malatji was due to be in opposition with Aphiwe Mkhangelwa who declined nomination from the floor at the ANCYL's 26th elective congress on Saturday. The ruling party's youth wing was without leadership for eight years after the structure was disbanded.
NEW LEADERSHIP
Malatji's deputy, Phumzile Mgcina and the secretary general, Mntuwoxolo Ngudle were also elected unopposed. The position of second deputy secretary general was scored by Olga Seate and Zwelo Masilela was elected treasurer general after his opponent Thuthukile Zuma did not meet the threshold. After the elections, Malatji shared a tweet saying: "Thank you to all branches of the ANCYL for entrusting me with this responsibility!" ANC Youth League and the structure were disbanded by the ANC National Executive Committee in 2018 when it failed to elect a new leadership succeeding that of Collen Maine. The then secretary-general of the ANC, Ace Magashule appointed a six-member national youth task team who were also expelled from the structure after it emerged that they were over the age of 35.
A LONG TIME COMING
Over 2,000 ANC delegates from various branches across the country gathered at the Nasrec Expo Centre to elect new leaders for their youth wing. Malatji who holds qualifications from the University of Johannesburg and is furthering his studies with Wits University is said to have been a potential candidate for the Youth League Presidency since 2018. In 2019, he was deployed to Parliament by the governing party, making him the youngest member of the National Assembly at the start of the sixth administration. In the past months, he had served as the deputy national coordinator of the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League's national task team. "I want to be known for being a president of the youth league that's worked very hard to restructure the economy. I am a very principled cadre, when I say I am going to implement something I will, I don't change along the way," said Malatji.
