Mbalula becomes embroiled in Mantashe/Malatji youth unemployment spat

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has read the riot act to party national chairperson Gwede Mantashe, instructing him to explain his controversial remarks about youth unemployment or face being sanctioned by the organisation.

Addressing youth league members at a Peter Mokaba memorial lecture in North West ahead of the party’s January 8 rally, Mbalula said Mantashe should explain what he meant.

“I spoke to the national chair, he says he is misquoted. If he is misquoted he must clarify himself about that misquotation. What the media is saying the national chair has said about the youth being lazy and that people must go and find jobs for themselves — that matter must be clarified. If it is not clarified, it will remain that the national chair has said [it]. This is not a joking matter, it is serious matter. It must be clarified properly.”

“He said to Collen [Malatji] that they must not talk past each other. Comrade Gwede insists that he was not properly quoted. He must go to the media in the coming week and clarify himself. If he does not clarify himself, I will issue a statement on behalf of the ANC to reprimand him. If those are views, they cannot be the views of the national chair of the ANC.”

Recently, Mantashe faced serious backlash after controversial comments he made alleging that youth are unemployed because they are lazy and do not submit CVs to search for employment.

He suggested that unemployed South Africans are overly dependent on the government to provide jobs rather than actively seeking employment. “The ANC has given you a fishing rod — must it now catch fish for you?” Mantashe asked.

A fiery Malatji clapped back this week, saying the youth cannot be told that by someone “who has never written or submitted a CV” in their life.

“With the high level of unemployment in South Africa, you find leaders of the ANC saying that people are unemployed because they are lazy to apply for jobs. Those are people who are detached from the reality of the people of South Africa,” Malatji said on Thursday.

“We don’t want your views, we don’t want your slogans. We want you to speak resolutions of the ANC and not what you think is right. We don’t care what you think; we care about the resolutions of the ANC,” he added.

At the league’s event on Friday, Malatji took it up a notch, threatening to mobilise young people to demonstrate at the January 8 rally if Mantashe or the ANC does not clarify or withdraw his remarks.

“There is no President [Cyril] Ramaphosa who is going to deliver a January 8 statement if this issue is not addressed. As the youth, we will march to the stage with our CVs in hand to demonstrate how severe the unemployment crisis is. It is a disaster.”

Mbalula defended Malatji, adding that he must be able to express the views of the youth freely.

“Malatji is not a rascal. All he said is reflective of a president who leads young people who are yearning for leadership. He is a militant youth president. As the youth league of the ANC, if as the ANC we are not doing things for the youth, you’ve got a right to fight it.

“We must not be worried every time Collen opens his mouth and speaks. The ANC youth league is a necessary irritation in the ANC. We don’t want a youth league that behaves like old people. There must be a difference between Collen Malatji and Cyril Ramaphosa.”

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