An ANCYL faction has accused Deputy Minister of Police Fikile Mbalula of abusing state resources by having dozens of police officers guard the ANC Youth League provincial conference over the weekend.
An ANCYL faction has accused Deputy Minister of Police Fikile Mbalula of abusing state resources by having dozens of police officers guard the ANC Youth League provincial conference over the weekend.
Former ANC Youth League president and current Deputy Minister of Police, Fikile Mbalula was in town to address delegates at the conference held in the Joza Indoor Sports Centre.
Delegates who were denied entry by the police called the officers ‘Mbalula forces’. Among the 30 or so disgruntled delegates singing and chanting outside the gate was a vocal Zola Capucapu, a delegate from East London. He accused Mbalula of using his position to thwart those who disagree with him. He queried whether there would be any police vans to respond to the community as most of them were guarding the conference.
The group supported Mawande Ndakisa for the position of chairperson against Ayanda Matiti, a Julius Malema ally.
The conference elected Matiti as the new chair of the Eastern Cape ANCYL.
A member of the group, who did not want to be named, said: “They know that Mawande is tipped to win, so they are using state resources to fight their political opponents.”
Capucapu added: “Malema, Mbalula and their cronies have brought anarchy into the ANCYL. They have turned this organisation into a Pty (Ltd).” He claims that his group was systematically excluded from the conference.
When asked if the heavily-armed police presence at the event was justified, a uniformed man who would not identify himself said “it was standard operating equipment (sic)”. He was quick to emphasise that they were only involved with securing the venue from the outside.
