Tony Sithembiso Yengeni

(Dimitri Villanueva)

South Africa Paper #2

May 13, 2015

South Africa Paper #2

As the leader of the Youth League of the ANC, I personally think that the conference as a

whole went well. The constitution that everyone contributed to was filled with debate, blood

sweat and tears. Everyone had their own personal goal to reach, and by the final constitution,

everyones goals were met for the most part. When it came to debating each section of the

constitution, it was either total agreement, or complete chaos. The constitution came into

agreement with most of the Youth Leagues wants and needs. Some topics that came into

agreement for the Youth League include education, jobs, and an overall average for the Youth

League.

The Youth League demanded certain rights for education. In order to gain points, the

finished constitution must state that education will be desegregated. After a long deliberation

process of whether the Department of Education should be in charge of regulating curriculum

and educational institutions, the final decision was made to allow this. Each homeland is allowed

to teach their own curriculum, as long as they follow the basic fundamentals of the Department

of Education. The number one that benefits the Youth League from all this is the fact that no

matter where you are in South Africa, the education will be desegregated. The final constitution
regarding the education credentials states that education will be desegregated, which is exactly

what the Youth League wants.

Sorting out this constitution for South Africa was not an easy task. There were many

debates and arguments on what people wanted for themselves. In the end everyone eventually

was able to cooperate and create a constitution for the better of South Africa. One important

topic that was brought up was jobs, taxes and land. The debate of land was a large problem at

first. The fact of whether not the state could claim your own resources of the soil or under the

soil was an issue that was needed to be fixed fast. The overall decision for this was that the state

could not claim your resources. You were able to have your own private property, and whatever

sources were to grow on it, would be yours to keep instead of the state taking it. The ability to

own your own private property creates a vast amount of opportunities to have more jobs. This

helps out the Youth League in the end because our goal was to establish job creation members,

which is exactly what was discussed.

The deliberation process of this long complicated constitution took many voices to

complete. With the cooperation of everyone contributing their goals, we were able to create an

overall constitution that fits everyones needs. When it comes to the Youth Leagues needs, there

was not much needed to win over our hearts. In the end, we did not win or lose. We created a

sense of equality with the constitution. I, Tony Sithembiso Yengeni, am proud to be a part of the

Youth League and I believe that I was able to create many opportunities for us in the future. The

entire debate process on what would be put into the constitution worked out for the most part in

my favor. I was able to have the Department of Education desegregate schools, and I was also

able to establish job creation measures. In the end, this overall experience has taught me well,
and I have learned a better knowledge on how to communicate with others to create a source of

synergy and agreement.