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ANCYL region talks tough

THE ANC Youth League in Western Cape has come out in support of the controversial "fracking" for shale gas in the Karoo. It also says that since there are no mines in the province, it wants to nationalise farms, fisheries, the tourism industry and the "insurance monopoly".

In a statement released by four regions following their regional councils, the league called for the benefits from the industries to be shared with the communities who work in them.

"We further support initiatives to investigate the viability of fracking across the province, while we will need to impress on the environmental impact by such exploration and its effect on the scarce water resources and the general conservation of the precious Karoo," reads a statement released yesterday on behalf of the Southern Cape, West Coast, Central Karoo and Overberg regions.

The statement was released by Luvo Makasi, who is backed by five powerful league regions in the province to take over the post of provincial chairperson at their elective congress next month.

ANCYL national spokeswoman Magdalene Moonsamy said the regions had the backing of the national youth league.

Nationally, the league did not support fracking but it wanted gas to be nationalised, however it was mined, she said.

Hydraulic fracking could pollute the water table and lead to earth tremors. The government has placed fracking on hold while it investigates its impact on the environment.

Although embattled youth league leader Julius Malema told the Sunday Times yesterday he wanted to be a cattle farmer, Makasi said Malema still had the Western Cape league's "unshaken support".

Makasi accused the ANC's national disciplinary committee of wanting to "suffocate" those who disagreed with it and said those charged by the ANC should be subject to "internal youth league processes".

He called for the ANC to open the succession debate, saying the Western Cape regions supported Fikile Mbalula as the next ANC general secretary.

The Western Cape youth league has been run by a caretaker task team since the ANCYL NEC disbanded the provincial executive of the league in 2010.

Two months ago, a new pro-Julius Malema leadership was elected to run the league in Cape Town.

New Cape Town regional secretary Mfuzo Zenzile said some of its branches were "ghosts", set up by donations to ANCYL members of R1000 to pay the R10 membership fee of 100 "members" - the minimum needed to establish a branch.

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