The newly elected leaders of the African National Congress (ANC) are apparently on a mission to revamp the ANC Youth League (ANCYL). The ANCYL National Executive Committee (NEC) was dissolved by the big guns of the ANC early March this year, for being unruly and ill disciplined.

The ruling party is said to be looking into selecting celebrities to join its ANCYL interim national task team. The lobbying of these celebrities is an effort by the ruling party to get young people to buy into voting for the ANC, ahead of the 2014 general elections. Kaiser Chiefs defender Jimmy Tau,  Cheesekids founder and grandson to Walter and Albertina Sisulu, Shaka Sisulu and former South African Students’ Congress (SASCO) leader Lazola Ndamase, are some of the people the ANC is eyeing to join it’s national task team.

Instead of looking for suitable, qualified and politically vocal leadership for ANC youth league, the ruling party is simply putting plaster on an infected wound. Making celebrities the face of a campaign before the elections runs the risk of actually doing the opposite of what the ANC is hoping to achieve. The ruling party have used celebrities like Chomi, Arthur Mafokate and Solly Moholo to lobby the youth before, but have never actually had the celebrities form part of the youth league.