Johannesburg - The ANC Youth League must be the first line of defence when people insult the ANC and President Jacob Zuma, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Friday.
"The ANCYL must be the defender of the African National Congress at all costs at all times, whenever the ANC is attacked," he told delegates at the ANCYL national congress in Midrand.
"It must engage with those who want to defeat the ANC. It must engage with those who insult the ANC. Those who call our leaders names, those who degrade the name of our president, must be engaged by the ANCYL."
The ANCYL is holding its long-awaited congress, more than two years after the ANC disbanded its leadership structures. The league will elect new leaders at the congress.
The newly-constituted ANCYL had to "engage in the battle of ideas", he said.