The ANC is set to hold urgent talks with its Youth League soon, following an explosive call by ANCYL President Collen Malatji for President Cyril Ramaphosa to immediately fire all DA ministers from the Cabinet.
The meeting, expected at Luthuli House, comes as tensions inside the Government of National Unity reach boiling point, while the mother body’s own relationship with alliance partner Cosatu is under strain after National Chairperson Gwede Mantashe walked out on the labour federation.
Malatji, who addressed the media at Luthuli House in Johannesburg on Thursday, did not mince his words. He said the ANCYL’s experiment of tolerating the DA inside the GNU had failed and it was time for Ramaphosa to act.
His demand was triggered by the fallout over the ANC’s Constitutional Court bid to reinstate 181 candidates excluded from the ballot for the November 4 local government elections, after the party failed to press “submit as final” on the IEC portal.
While the Constitutional Court directed the Electoral Commission to include the candidates, the DA had opposed the ANC’s court action, arguing that electoral rules must apply equally to all parties. That opposition has infuriated the Youth League.
“We thought in the beginning of the Youth League that working with the second biggest political party in South Africa would create a bit of stability in the government of national unity,” Malatji said.
“And you know, when we are wrong, you must say that we are wrong.”
He accused the DA of being a destabilising force inside the GNU and of pursuing a racist agenda.
“It has continued to serve its racist agenda, which they are funded for,” he charged.
In a direct message to Ramaphosa, Malatji said: “Now we are calling upon the GNU, the president, to immediately remove all ministers of the DA. And we are calling upon the president to reopen discussions with other political parties.”
He added: “Now the call is very clear, there are concessions on it. That DA must be removed. And the president must appoint new ministers who believe in our democratic constitution.”
Malatji also opened the door for the EFF to replace the DA, but with a sting in the tail for Julius Malema’s party.
“If they can warm up and behave, they can come and join the government of national unity,” he said, describing the EFF leadership as “mainly led by childish people”.
He said the ANC was now under pressure from its own communities for governing with what he called a right-wing organisation, and that the Youth League could no longer defend the arrangement.
The DA has hit back, saying it respects the Constitutional Court ruling but warning that it sets a dangerous precedent on electoral compliance.
In a statement, DA Federal Council Chairperson Ashor Sarupen said the judgment raises serious concerns about strict compliance with IEC deadlines.
“The ANC has now succeeded in court to undoing their own failure to submit candidate lists in 6 municipalities. However, this will not change their electoral fortunes. The ANC is in terminal decline,” Sarupen said.
“We note Fikile Mbalula’s threats about the GNU. The reality is that the DA is not in the GNU to go along to get along, and we will vigorously defend the rule of law.”
The party said it remains focused on winning on November 4 and “removing the ANC because they have destroyed those municipalities”.
The looming ANC-ANCYL meeting is also expected to deal with another rupture — that between the ANC and Cosatu.
Mantashe this week walked out on Cosatu during a heated alliance engagement, a move that has embarrassed the ANC leadership and angered the federation, which has accused the ANC of taking its alliance partners for granted while protecting the DA inside the GNU.
The Youth League is expected to raise Mantashe’s walkout directly with the mother body, arguing that the ANC cannot afford to alienate Cosatu while clinging to a relationship with the DA that, in its view, is ideologically incompatible and politically toxic.
The ANC has not yet commented on the agenda for the talks, but senior officials have confirmed that the meeting is imminent, although it may not happen as quickly as the Youth League wants due to work that still needs to be done ahead of the upcoming elections.
