The outgoing leadership of the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) has claimed that young voters accounted for the largest share of the party’s vote in the May 2024 national and provincial general elections. The ANCYL has statistical evidence to support its claim, outgoing secretary-generalMtuwoxolo Ngudlesaid ahead of the league’s 27th national conference in Limpopo. “The [number of] youth of South Africa who are of eligible voting age is 21.6 million.
Of these, 10.6 million are not registered to vote. We ran massive campaigns to register young people ahead of the 2024 national elections.” Ngudle told journalists. “If you go to Gauteng, of those who voted for the ANC, only 9% were adults, while 91% were young people.
Nationally, only 17% of the adult population voted for the ANC. It was the youth that voted because the youth league hegemonised it to go and vote.” TheANC’s national electoral support dropped to 40% in the 2024 elections, falling below the 50% plus one threshold for an outright majority for the first time since the advent of democracy in 1994. This forced the party to form a government of national unity with nine other organisations to retain power.
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Ngudle will not be eligible to contest for a position at the youth congress after turning 35, the maximum age allowed for leadership of the league. Outgoing treasurer-general Zwelo Masilela is also ineligible for re-election for the same reason. Outgoing ANCYL president Collen Malatji is expected to contest the conference unopposed, alongside his preferred slate.
In August, theANCYL national general congressheld in the Northern Cape resolved that the national executive committee (NEC) should convene an early conference, as most of its members were approaching or had exceeded the age limit of 35. On Monday, Malatji denied claims that the upcoming conference would be uncontested. “Our slate is simply an announcement coming from branches, but nothing is certain.
There is still a process of nominations from the floor, and the ANC constitution allows for that,” he said. Malatji echoed Ngudle’s sentiments, saying that the youth league remained one of the ANC’s biggest contributors, although he conceded that the party’s 40% showing in last year’s elections was disappointing.
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