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Book chronicles ANCYL’s fall from prominence

17 May 2021 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Supplied

Rebone-Tau_web read more — Rebone Tau’s new book, The Rise and Fall of the ANC Youth League, provides an account of the inner doings and destruction of a once dominant youth movement.

It is not an explosive book with damning revelations, but The Rise and Fall of the ANC Youth League by Rebone Tau, a former member of the ANC Youth League's National Task Team, provides an insider perspective on this once dominant youth movement.

The University of the Free State (UFS), together with the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southern Africa, hosted a discussion with Prof Chitja Twala, Vice-Dean: Faculty of the Humanities, on 10 May 2021. The book launch coincided with UFS Africa Month commemorations.

The publication of the book falls within a period in which the African National Congress (ANC) finds itself in the midst of ongoing leadership controversy. Prof Twala, an expert on liberation movements in Africa, said that the book is in essence a historical account of the ANCYL. “It is important that it comes now as the ANC is in a deep leadership crisis,” he said. Prof Hussein Solomon, Academic Head of the Department of Political Studies and Governance, also praised the publication of the book, saying that “there is much talk about decolonisation, and it is important to have young black writers like Rebone Tau to further the decolonisation agenda”.

Factionalism left Youth League in ruins

“The Youth League chose to support Zuma during his arms deal and corruption court proceedings. Zuma was implicated in the arms deal and other corruption charges at the time. A new culture emerged after the Mangaung Congress in 2012. “It was around this time that the opulence in the Youth League started surfacing – the branded clothing and sports cars,” Tau said.

In 2019, the Youth League was dissolved because it failed to fulfil its role. Tau points out that the Youth League became more focused on internal factionalism and the materialism of the leadership caused it to fall out of favour with the youth. “The current Youth League has no structure, it has no mandate, and basically no agenda,” Tau said.

For the ANCYL, it is a case of still clinging to its former self in the hope of reviving itself. This book is appreciated as it provides an account that is not publicly available. Tau’s final remarks were ؘ– “for the ANC to survive, it needs the Youth League.”

Glorious history of ANCYL

The book looks at the founding of the ANCYL, formed in 1949, and chronicles the movement from its infancy and unbanning to its literal dispossession through exile and the current manifestation of the once dominant movement. “The ANCYL looked at the character of the ANC and seek to involve more young people on the ground to join in the liberation struggle,” Tau said.

The Youth League has brought new ideas to the fore, influencing the programme of action that the ANC is following. “The ANCYL was pivotal in moving the ANC’s resolutions to include other demographical groups. The youth voice was a force within the ANC,” Tau said.

Listen to the recording of the discussion here:

Book launch:The Rise and Fall of ANC Youth Leage

News Archive

UFS presents workshop on plea bargaining

2010-02-09

At the workshop were in front: Prof. Hennie Oosthuizen, Department of Criminal and Medical Law at the UFS; back: Judge Faan Hancke, Adv. Jo Hiemstra of the Office of the Director Public Prosecution in the Free State, Judge President Hendrick Musi and Judge of Appeal Fritz Brand.
Photo: Stephen Collett

The Centre for Judicial Excellence in the Faculty of Law at the University of the Free State (UFS) recently presented a workshop on plea bargaining. This is the fourth workshop in the series of workshops on effective court management and the expedition of trials that started in 2007.

According to Judge Faan Hancke, the Chair of the workshop and also Extraordinary Professor in the Department of Process Law at the UFS, selected members of the judicature such as Judge of Appeal Fritz Brand, Judge Albert Kruger – who is amongst others the author of an important book on the criminal process – and Judge President of the Free State High Court, Hendrick Musi, conducted presentations at this workshop.

Judge Hancke’s lecture focused on the basic principles of plea bargaining. “Abroad, the plea agreement is effectively applied to shorten court procedures. This gives them a 80 percent saving on court cases with regard to serious crime, where we in South Africa save less than five percent on court cases.

The workshop was attended by magistrates, attorneys, advocates, the UFS Law Clinic and members of the Legal Aid Council. According to Mr Lukas Brand, a magistrate from Botshabelo, this workshop is a must for each jurist. More members of the legal profession must attend these kinds of workshops because there are many people who lack the necessary knowledge on some of the stipulations in the criminal procedure.

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