The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL), the youth wing of the South African ruling party, on Tuesday hit back at the ruling party, over its (ANCYL) plans to establish a Botswana “command team” to unite opposition parties there against the government.

The league's action came after ANC’s national spokesman Jackson Mthembu had warned the youth wing that it had no authority to press for a regime change in South Africa’s stable neighbour. 

In a statement on Monday, Mthembu said it wanted to 'totally reject and publicly rebuke' the ANCYL on its 'extremely thoughtless and embarrassing' pronouncements on regime change in Botswana.

It described the league's statement as 'a total deviation and an affront to the ANC policies'.

The league had said on Sunday it intended setting up a team to help unite opposition forces in Botswana to oppose its government, which it called a security threat to Africa and a puppet of the United States.

Despite being rebuked by the ANC, the youth league remained defiant on Tuesday, saying: “The ANC Youth League does not believe that our position on Botswana is inconsistent with ANC policy outlook… If there is anything inconsistent with ANC policy directives, it is leaders of the ANC who associate with imperialist-controlled political parties like the Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe and the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in Botswana.

'The ANCYL is concerned that strange ideological trends and political relations are being established for convenience,” said ANCYL spokesman Floyd Shivambu.

Pana 04/08/2011