The Times
*Blade Nzimande cautions ANC Youth League* *Canaan Mdletshe, The Times, Johannesburg, 17 October 2011*Blade Nzimande, the SA Communist Party general secretary and minister of higher education, has told ANC Youth League members not to join "any march that will not make a difference" in their life.
Nzimande was speaking at the SACP provincial congress in Esikhawini, near Richard's Bay, in northern KwaZulu-Natal, on Saturday.
In an indirect attack on league president Julius Malema, Nzimande urged young people not to be misled by politicians who wanted only "to benefit themselves".
"Do not allow yourselves to be used by people with agendas that are not in your interest," said Nzimande.
In a clear reference to the youth league's planned action later this month in support of the nationalisation of mines and more employment opportunities for youths, Nzimande called on young people not to participate.
"We are not going to be supporting any march whose intention is malicious and to undermine the authority of the ANC and the government," he said.
Mlondolozi Mkhize, the Young Communist League's KwaZulu-Natal organising secretary, said the league's members would not join the march because it was aimed at undermining the ANC.
"We view this march as nothing but a direct attack on the ANC. The ANC has always been open to engagement and we, as the YCL in KwaZulu-Natal, believe that the channels of discussions have remained available but were not used before the decision to march was taken," he said.
"Marching is an exercise for expressing dissatisfaction, so we can't be involved in a march when we have not engaged the ANC or its government on issues."
Mkhize said the Young Communist League viewed the march as a "struggle by Malema to demonstrate" that he could organise young people to insult the ANC and the government.
"It's a demonstration to cause instability in the country . It's an opportunistic element to distract young people from issues that affect them," he said.
Nzimande touched on the issue of fraudulent tenders, saying it was a major cause of corruption. He said money received in such a corrupt way was used to buy votes and this was destroying South Africa.
"One of the biggest threats to whatever we are trying to do as a country is corruption.
"We must stand up and fight corruption, and part of doing that is to look closely [to ensure] that the tender system in the government is made more transparent.
"We must name and shame those people who come to us at night to give us cash, to have parties for us, in order to buy us to vote in a particular way."
*From: http://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2011/10/17/blade-nzimande-cautions-anc-youth-league*
** ** ** -- 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. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] .
<<inline: TheTimes.jpg>>
