THE AUTONOMY OF THE ANC YOUTH LEAGUE IS NON-NEGOTIABLE – DEFEND IT!

Dr Che Selane.

In the belly of apartheid’s brutality, in the smoke and fire of colonial capitalist domination, a generation of young African warriors rose not to beg, not to plead, but to demand justice, freedom, and the total liberation of their people. That generation gave birth to the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) a militant detachment of young black revolutionaries who refused to be domesticated, subdued or tamed by the cowardice of appeasement politics.

Let it be known, comrades, that the autonomy of the ANC Youth League is not a ceremonial clause in some constitutional footnote. It is the beating revolutionary heart of the ANC itself. To reduce it to mere formalities and administrative boundaries is to spit in the face of Anton Lembede, Nelson Mandela, Peter Mokaba, and countless others who dared to dream of a free, radical, African future.

In 1942, President Alfred Xuma hesitated. He questioned the necessity of a Youth League, preferring financial tidiness and communication reform. But the revolutionary tide could not be stopped. The ANC could no longer suppress the militancy of its young lions. The fire was burning, the youth were restless, and the League was born in September 1944 at the Bantu Social Centre in Johannesburg.

These were not young men and women seeking social status. They were not diplomats or technocrats. They were fighters. Theirs was a politics of defiance, boycott, and strike rejecting the polished submissiveness of petitioning the oppressor.

In 1949, the Youth League drafted a Programme of Action that sent shockwaves through the halls of colonial power and within the ANC itself. It radicalised the organisation, transforming it from a docile liberal lobby group into a revolutionary mass movement. This was the power of autonomous youth structures: bold, fearless, unapologetically Africanist in character and nationalist in spirit.

It was the Youth League that gave the ANC a spine. It was the youth that injected the blood of resistance into an organisation that was starting to bend to the pressures of white rule. And when the apartheid state reached its peak of violence, it was (SAYCO) the youth once again that mobilised under fire, under bullets and teargas, for the release of political prisoners, the return of exiles, and the unbanning of liberation movements.

When the Youth League was re-launched in 1991, with Peter Mokaba at the helm, the question was not whether young people would follow. The question was whether the ANC was ready for the roaring truth of a militant youth determined to challenge the slow pace of transformation, the compromises of the elite, and the betrayal of the black working class.

Let us be clear: the autonomy of the Youth League is not just about convening separate meetings, singing louder songs, or wearing different colours at conferences. Autonomy is about independent ideological clarity, political decision-making, and strategic direction within the broader framework of liberation.

The ANC Constitution and the ANCYL Constitution are aligned in principle: the League is an autonomous body within the ANC. But autonomy does not mean subordination. Autonomy means the right to differ, to agitate, to provoke revolutionary introspection, and to call out the betrayal of the poor when the mother body flirts with neoliberalism, patronage, and class collaboration.

Let us not mince words: when youth are reduced to marching bands and praise singers, when they are silenced in favour of party discipline and compliance, they are turned into grave diggers of the revolution.

If the ANC abandons the revolutionary aspirations of our people, the Youth League must not follow it into ideological bankruptcy. Instead, it must rise with militant conviction and reclaim the revolution from those who have become comfortable in power. The ANCYL is not just a mere preparatory school of the ANC but a critical body of opinion within the ANC. It is precisely because it derives its ideological clarity, theoretical existence and political understanding from the womb of the ANC. In essence, its existence is informed by the constitution of the ANC.

This is what Anton Lembede meant when he said the Youth League must be “a training ground for future leaders”. Not leaders of compromise. Not leaders of tenders. But leaders of resistance. Leaders who understand that the purpose of power is to dismantle systems of exploitation, not to manage them more gently.

The Youth League must once again be a site of ideological warfare, a university of radical thought, a base of operations for the black working-class struggle. It must reject the pacifist tendencies creeping into our movement. It must resist the temptation to be co-opted by parliamentarism and elite capture.

In conclusion, comrades, we say this with clarity and resolve:

Autonomy is not a privilege. It is a revolutionary right.

To protect the revolution, we must protect the autonomy of the ANC Youth League.

Let the elders advise, but the youth must lead. Because revolutions are born in the minds of the young and die in the hands of the old.

Amandla! Viva the ANCYL! Viva the Revolution! Viva the Autonomous Youth!

Dr. Che Selane is a Member of the Limpopo Provincial Legislature and writes in his capacity as a public leader committed to developmental governance and public safety.