JOHANNESBURG — The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL)’s acting president, Ronald Lamola, on Wednesday said it was imperative for the South African government to play its role in resolving the challenges faced by the Zimbabwean government, but to also respect the sovereignty of that country.
New Age
Lamola said all the liberation movements of the African continent, including Zanu PF, deserved to retain power in their countries.
He said this would make it possible for these movements to implement their pre-election manifestos.
“South Africa may make diplomatic interventions in Zimbabwe, but also allow the country to be a sovereign state,” he said.
He was speaking in Pretoria during a meeting of the ANCYL and the youth formations of former liberation movements of Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola, Namibia and Tanzania.
The gathering was aimed at, among other things, brainstorming on ideas that the movements could use in order to better the lives of young people on the continent. “This meeting must take stock of our progress in the liberation of our people.
“The youth in the villages of Mozambique and Zimbabwe must be able to see the implementation of the resolution we will adopt here.
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And the resolutions we adopt here must be able to change the lives of the youth in Africa because this continent has resources to feed the youth,” Lamola said.
Lamola called on young people of Zimbabwe to defend the interests of that country by participating in the elections expected to be held next year. He warned them against the trend of campaigning outside the confines of the law.
ANCYL acting secretary-general Kenetswe Mosenogi, at the same gathering, said the youth of Zimbabwe were being used to fight the ruling Zanu PF government that had liberated them from colonial rule.
She said political and ideological freedom was yet to be achieved in Africa despite the independence the countries attained from colonialists.
Zanu-PF youth leader Absalom Sikhosana launched what sounded like an indirect scathing attack on the MDC formations.
He said the MDC had prevented the government from taking the economy back to the people.
“We are in the same legislature with our predators, the so-called opposition who fight our own policies aimed at giving the economy back to the people,” Sikhosana said.
“This is the enemy trying to make our efforts of the liberation struggle null and void.”
He said Zanu PF would pull out all the stops in order to win the elections this year.