Gallo Images
"The ANC Youth league in Mpumalanga remains a disciplined component of the organisation and respects processes of the ANC on free circulation of ideas in the movement," acting provincial secretary Clarence Maseko said on Friday.
The provincial league, in its list of preferred candidates for the ANC's top six officials, named Motlanthe to take over from President Jacob Zuma, and current ANC treasurer Mathews Phosa to fill Motlanthe's current post.
Fikile Mbalula was named to take over the position of secretary-general from Gwede Mantashe, while Tokyo Sexwale was nominated as treasurer general and Febe Potgieter-Gqubule as deputy secretary general.
"[The ANCYL]... would like to reiterate its resoluteness in... [backing these] comrades to take over the haemorrhaging movement... in Mangaung," Maseko said.
He said the "nucleus" of the African National Congress's national executive committee had to be made up of former ANCYL members.
Maseko said the ANC in the province was plagued by a "comedy of errors".
"The deteriorating quality of constitutional democracy in the organisation and dictatorial tendencies in this part of the country is a serious cause for concern," he said.
Maseko criticised the provincial executive over a report that ghost members were included in the audit of the Bohlabela region in Mpumalanga, apparently to boost support for President Jacob Zuma.
"These regions must start to realise that they are only being used as voting cattle and nothing else. That will never happen to the ANC Youth League under our stewardship," he said.
The Mail & Guardian reported on Friday that an anti-Zuma group in Mpumalanga accused provincial and regional party leaders of colluding with auditors to inflate membership figures.
According to documents the newspaper said it saw, more than 2,000 ghost members were added to the final audit, which the ANC headquarters conducted in August.
