ANC Youth League (ANC) leader Collen Malatji has slammed Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi for appointing what he termed "celebrity" and "golden boys" as MECs in his provincial cabinet and excluding the youth.
Malatji also took a swipe at the provincial MECs for being absent during the campaign season to rescue the ANC from sinking deeper.
He said that some of the MECs appointed by Lesufi had no constituency and no one knew them.
"Panyaza was campaigning alone here in Gauteng," he said.
Malatji said the ANC was sitting at below 40% in Gauteng in the recent election results because of them.
"These MECs were nowhere to be found during campaigns but drinking champagne in the suites with slay queens during rallies."
Malatji was addressing residents of Bekkersdal during the Nelson Mandela programme in the West Rand on Monday. Party members were also present.
Although he did not mention names of the "golden boys", the likes of Lebogang Maile, the current Finance MEC and Jacob Mamabolo, the current MEC for Infrastructure development and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) have served as MECs for about a decade.
“We know there are golden boys in Gauteng whom no one can touch ... It is always obvious that they are going to be deployed as MECs, even though they are not known.
"We don’t know who they represent because you can't be an MEC if you don’t have a constituency. All they do is drink expensive whiskies and smoke cigars without delivering services," he said.
Malatji also questioned Lesufi's strategy of employing more people from the Joburg region and leaving out other regions like Sedibeng and the West Rand.
"There's no region called Joburg that can deploy four people, while West Rand has nothing.
"Sedibeng and West Rand as well as the Youth League as if they are the stepchildren of the ANC in Gauteng, while there's people we don't know," he said.
In the same breath, he urged Lesufi to fix his mistakes and that they forgive him.
During his address, residents complained about how they are not employed in the neighbouring mines yet they continue to operate under their watch.
Malatji's answer to this was that "the youth of West Rand must go and shutdown the mines in Bekkersdal until the owners come and explain their employment progress."
"We know these mines, they employ illegal foreign nationals because they want to exploit and use them as cheap labour. They don't want South Africans because they can't exploit them," he added.
IOL Politics