THE African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) says it is ready to lead and defend democracy.
The league held a Peter Mokaba Volunteers Rally at Alexandra Stadium in Joburg on Sunday, 10 March.
The aim of the rally was to address youth issues and campaign for the upcoming elections on 29 May 2024.
The event was also attended by ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula and Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi.
In his address to the members, ANCYL president Collen Malatji blamed former president Jacob Zuma for the ANC's decline.
He said the party had made a mistake by making Zuma president of Mzansi for 10 years.
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Malatji said the same Zuma had used the English he learnt in the party to speak against the ANC.
He said it was now their duty as a league to apologise to the country for the mistake and try to correct it.
He also admitted that the ANC was not perfect and had its own mistakes.
"That's why when you go door to door, you must first apologise to the people of South Africa and say the first mistake we made was to give a school dropout a country to lead for 10 years.
"We will never do that again. We apologise on behalf of the ANC. Now this man has taken uMkhonto Wesizwe, which belongs to Nelson Mandela, to uMkhonto Wesisu (stomach) to continue the looting of the movement," he said.
Mbalula also addressed the members and promised that efforts would be made to find a solution to the housing problems in Alexandra.
He said they first realised that there was a lack of land in Alex and then set up a place called Tsutsumani so that the many people in Alex would also have a place to call home.
"They lied and said we promised to build a million houses here, but there is not enough land here," he said.
He also took a swipe at Zuma and called him a liar.
"He is an old man who loves lies. We need to show him that those who go to Zuma are criminals and also liars, just like him," he said.
