‘It’s cold outside - come back home’‚  ANCYL tells disgruntled ANC members

The ANC Youth League has called on disgruntled ANC members who have since left the organisation to return to the fold‚ warning that “it’s cold outside”.

This comes after some members of the ANC stayed away from the polls in the recent municipal elections‚ which saw the party lose some of the country’s major metropolitans‚ including Nelson Mandela Bay‚ the City of Tshwane as well as the City of Johannesburg‚ to the Democratic Alliance.

“As part of self correcting we call on the ANC across its length and breadth to consider engaging independent candidates particularly those that left the ANC during the past local government to come back at home. It is our considered view that this will help the organisation to gain back its members who are now homeless‚” said ANCYL deputy secretary general Thandi Moraka.

She was speaking at a media briefing at the party’s headquarters‚ Luthuli House‚ on Sunday afternoon.

Moraka said the Youth League’s National Executive Committee two-day conference which was held at the Burgers Park Hotel in Tshwane‚ had noted that differences were allowed in the ANC‚ “but we cannot promote the public denouncements that have been happening recently“.

“We know that this might be viewed by some that it will encourage ill-discipline of people leaving the movement when they are not happy with the decisions of the ANC. Our thinking is that in an event some come back‚ there will be nothing new besides correcting and listening to disgruntled members of the ANC‚” she added.

Moraka‚ who was flanked by ANCYL Treasurer Reggie Nkabinde‚ ANCYL President Collen Maine‚ ANCYL Deputy President Desmond Moela and the League’s national spokesperson Mlondi Mkhize‚ called on the ANC leadership across its structures to “respect the guidelines that were issued to all structures for local government elections“.