He was elected unopposed on Saturday night.
Nkangala young communist league leader Themba ‘Ntshebe’ Ntimane is now the provincial secretary of the league in the Mpumalanga province.
Ntimane took the reigns of the YCL as its 5th provincial secretary on Saturday night (6 Apr), taking over from Tinyiko Nyini who got elected the national secretary last year December.
Their congress was held at the Noma-Nini Lodge in White River and received messages of support from the Communist Party of Swaziland, Cosas, SASCO, Cosatu as well as the SACP.
In their address, the SACP reminded the young communists that although they were “autonomous” they were not “independent”.
Communist provincial deputy secretary Mandla Tibane said the YCL was formed by the SACP as its child for the sole goal of fighting and achieving the total freedom of oppressed people “and that still remains that way”.
“We are not here to babysit you. We are here to show you the maximum support that you expect from your elders and in that way we expect a maximum discipline from you, ” Tibane told the YCL congress Saturday night.
The SACP founded the YCL in 1921 but in 1950 the Apartheid government declared it illegal together with the SACP under the Suppression of Communism Act. It was then re-established in 2003 after a 2002 SACP congress took a resolution to re-establish it.
Ntimane served two terms as leader of the Nkangala YCL.
In his address as the newly elected leader of the Mpumalanga YCL on Sunday afternoon, he said the responsibility of young people is “to learn and once you have learnt you must then assist with clarity”.
“Young people must give a correct response in the right time. Our responsibility as we are learning should not be only to defend old people but assist the society on how to bring change for young people in the province,” he said.
He also condemned the physical attack on deputy chair Fikile Malandule who could not attend the congress because of injuries. She was elected in absentia.
“We will never allow any of our persons to be attacked. We are saying not in our lifetime and those who did it should not think that harming young people will be a walk in the park, ” Ntimane said.
Ntimane’s big job ahead will be to try and mend sour relations between the Mpumalanga ANCYL and the YCL.
The fight between the two organisations stems from tensions between firebrand provincial communist leader Bonakele Majuba and then ANC provincial leader DD Mabuza.
The two were united by then deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa during an Alliance Summit in April 2016.
The ANCYL snubbed the YCL provincial congress, sending nobody to deliver a message of support.
(edited by ZK)
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