ANC national executive committee member Mzwandile Masina has slammed allegations that axed youth league convener, Xola Nqola, was "pushed“ out out of the National Youth Task Team (NYTT).
Masina, who is one of the NEC members elected to oversee the conference, addressed the media on Friday night where he reflected on the state of readiness of the 26th ANCYL National Elective conference which began 12 hours later.
He also clarified matters that delayed the start of it.
He said views that Nqola was pushed out were far-fetched as he doesn’t qualify to stand for any position in the youth league. He stated that the suspended convener helped the task team in terms of organising the conference.
This comes after Nqola penned a letter to ANC secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, regarding his removal as member and convener of the league's conference.
In the letter, Nqola complained about the delegates being moved around saying this would affect the credentials of the conference.
He also pleaded with the ANC NEC members including President Cyril Ramaphosa to intervene and block Mbalula and other officials from interfering in the affairs of the young lions.
According to Nqola, the interference of the mother body could impact the credibility of the conference.
Furthermore, he mentioned how intimidation and manipulation took centre stage in the build-up to the national conference.
Responding to the accusations of interference, registration manipulation and delays, deputy convener, Collen Malatji, said the delays emanated after the Eastern Cape’s Chris Hani region, however, the situation was resolved and registrations took place after all branches met the threshold of 70%.
"We are almost done with the registrations, EC and KZN will be finalizing the accreditations by 9pm we are starting our programme," he said.
He said the youth league will not allow any ill-discipline to stop the conference.
"We are not going to allow any ill-discipline from the delegates because the moment we tolerate ill-discipline it will cease to exist. The youth league will deal with those that are seen coming to our stations drunk, we will follow up on where they get the resources to disrupt the historic movement of the ANCYL conference," Malatji said.
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