ANCYL And The R80 000 Bill

Mpho Lehlongwa

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During the course of May, when South Africans were still buzzing about the election, Black Twitter went crazy when a random twitpic of a receipt surfaced that showed R80 000 had been spent on alcohol. Everyone had their say about the receipt. Some didn’t understand why someone would spend so much money on alcohol, while […]

ancDuring the course of May, when South Africans were still buzzing about the election, Black Twitter went crazy when a random twitpic of a receipt surfaced that showed R80 000 had been spent on alcohol. Everyone had their say about the receipt. Some didn’t understand why someone would spend so much money on alcohol, while others actually were praising the guy and gave him props for spending his “hard earned” money the way he did.

It wasn’t long before requests streamed in from girls asking to tag along , while some guys also wanted to know where this guy was going with all this booze. In short, people just wanted to know where the party was more than understanding why so much money was spent on such expensive booze. Eventually, people started speculating and even suggested it was a receipt from a well known club, and that soon enough they would find out who it was. As it turns out, yes it was at a well-known club called Velvet Lounge in Durban.

I became worried when I found out that the big fat cheque worth 80K is actually a bill that (still) hasn’t been paid for by the ANCYL. The Velvet Lounge’s owner recently claimed that the bill was left after an elections celebration party the Youth League held. As much R24 ooo was spent on whiskey and a further R10 000 on champagne on that night. ANCYL members Themba Dlomo and Emanuel Gumede were responsible for organizing the event and Dlomo decided to be a total ass about the whole affair when he stated: “I facilitated this party but was never meant to pay for it.”

The ANCYL is pulling the “it’s not me, I don’t know” card and sound like a bunch of teenagers who are pointing fingers at each other for finishing a bottle of vodka at a club and not being able to settle the bill. I really don’t care who among them is responsible for this, what really worries me is the fact that the youth league is out there budget balling with tax-payers money. It also paints a picture to the older generation that this is what we all get up to when money is thrown at us. Or could it be that the ANCYL is learning this behaviour from their elders i.e. Jacob Zuma and friends?

Tomorrow, when we try voicing our opinions based on how money should be spent in developing the youth and creating more jobs for them, all this will be thrown in our faces like we were at the party in Durban too.

Follow me on Twitter: @Thy_Black_Hippy

Illustrations by Thato Mongale (@KingOblivy)

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