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Johannesburg - Troubles facing the ANC were a result of outside influences trying to destabilise the party, ANC Youth League convenor Mzwandile Masina said on Thursday.
"We have been talking about the counter-revolution that is assisted by a range of players in society, including media and international NGOs. And you can see how almost arrogant the opposition has become in dealing with the ANC," he told reporters on the sidelines of the ANC Youth League consultative conference in Soweto.
"If you look at what's happening in Parliament you get a sense that indeed [there are] those who are hell bent on wanting to ensure that the democracy which took place on May 7 is not recognised."
Masina said this was what President Jacob Zuma meant when he said the African National Congress was in trouble.
"We are basically being held ransom by those who did not get the majority of the votes," Masina said.
During his opening address to ANCYL on Wednesday evening, Zuma said the party had been shaken and was in trouble.
"We admit that the organisation is in trouble," he told the youth league delegates.
"I can guarantee you that if everything goes wrong in the ANC, everything will go wrong in this country."
Masina said the ANC had to ensure that its structures, members and supporters understood the threat.
"All of us must rally behind the ANC and ensure that we defend it," he said.
Masina insisted that the ANC's moral standing was still intact which was evidenced by the majority of votes it received during elections.
"We have tested the moral authority," he said.
"We know that politics is a contested terrain but there is a co-ordinated fashion in which all forces are moving towards working against the ANC," he said.
"That's why we said the unity of the ANC is important to all of us."
ANCYL was holding a consultative conference this week where delegates would discuss policy and rebuilding the organisation.
The ANC disbanded the league's national executive committee last year and replaced it with a national task team (NTT).
The conference was supposed to be an elective one but the NTT on Tuesday announced that voting for new leaders would no longer take place.
Leadership would be elected at a second conference early next year.
Some delegates on Wednesday were still upset that they would not be able to vote, with a group from Gauteng booing the decision and booing some ANC leaders. The group calmed down before Zuma arrived.
However, Masina on Thursday was confident that all delegates had accepted the decision taken by the ANC not to allow the youth league to vote.
Zuma also explained to delegates on Wednesday evening the rationale behind the decision.
ANC national spokesperson Zizi Kodwa on Thursday said Zuma had been candid and went to lengths to explain, even in front of the media.
The ruling party was happy with the conduct of delegates in the light of predictions before the conference that it would descend into chaos.
"From the ANC point of view we quite happy to see the kind of discipline displayed by delegates at this conference," he said.
"It was very important that the membership of the youth league appreciated the decision of the ANC."
Eleven ANC NEC members attended the ANCYL conference.
Masina said ANCYL delegates on Thursday were sitting in commissions discussing policy, which would be taken to the ANC's national general council next year.
