ANCYL election observer “not pushing Russian narrative…we’re against Nazism”
ANCYL members – who travelled to Ukraine at the invitation of Russia to oversee so-called referendums – deny they're Russian puppets. On 12 October, 143 nations of the world voted in favour of condemning the referendums that took place in Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia. They concluded it was a sham and an illegal land grab by the Russian Federation. South Africa chose to abstain from voting on that particular resolution and has consistently refused to condemn Russia's invasion; instead, positioning itself as a non-aligned country interested only in peace. Subsequent to the outcome of those referendums, Russia has officially annexed the four areas that make up 15% of Ukraine. North Korea is the only UN member state that recognises Russia's annexation of the partially occupied regions. BizNews correspondent Michael Appel spoke to ANCYL chairperson of the International Relations Committee, Khulekani Skosana, about its mission as election observers. He refuses to divulge who exactly invited them and paid for the trip. Skosana is adamant what Russia did on 24 February "is in response to the permeation of Nazi extremism that targets a particular ethnic group. Ukraine has also been responsible for killing Ukrainian citizens of Russian descent". This is a wide-ranging interview with Skosana expressing his views on everything from the war in Ukraine to political issues in South Africa, including the idea of Cape independence. He says, "Settlers cannot come and tell us they want [Cape] independence in our country." – Michael Appel
Excerpts from interview with ANCYL chairperson of the International Relations Committee, Khulekani Skosana
Khulekani Skosana on who invited them to be election observers
The ANC Youth League was invited, amongst many journalists, political organisations, NGOs, by the Russian Federation to come and observe the referendums in the region. So we went there upon an invitation by the Russian Federation.
On who paid for the ANCYL's trip
The ANC Youth League has financial support domestically, and I think we will inform the public on who paid for our trips through our financial support. And we are also bound by the Political Party Funding Act. These are discussions that will find expression in the National Executive Committee and at the national conference of the ANC [in December]. The is where finances of the organisations are dealt with and the media is not necessarily privy to that. But, we went there on our own. I think that's the best I can say.
On how they got into Ukraine
The ANCYL members flew to Moscow and then we flew down to the Donbas region under the protection of the Russian military. We have maintained that if the same invitation was rendered to us from Kyiv, we would do the same exercise. We would still go to Kyiv and observe under the protection of the Ukrainian military. I think ours is not a position of neutrality. I heard you say that we are neutral. We are not neutral. We are non-aligned. Our position is peace. Our position is dialogue. And our position is the silencing of the guns. We think that there's always an opportunity for diplomatic conversation. It's important for us as the ANCYL, as young Africans and young South Africans, to accumulate information with our own eyes. That is why we agreed to go to the Donbas region and that is why we will agree to go to Ukraine if invited. We want peace. We don't want people to die. Too often, and in this particular instance, you always hear political elites speaking on behalf of the people. It's important for us to hear directly from the people and that is what we went to do. To observe and to understand the situation on the ground and to engage with the citizens of Donbas. For them to speak directly to us, especially those who are Russian speaking.
On whether Russia violated international law by invading Ukraine on 24 February
Did Ukraine persecute and kill Ukrainian citizens since 2014 continuously? That I do agree with. I think that what the Russian Federation did in in February is in response to the permeation of Nazi extremism that targets a particular ethnic group. I myself, being a descendant of an ethnic group that was a target [under apartheid] I understand how important it is for us to receive social salvation. Do you understand that without international solidarity and interventions, we would not be where we are as a people? You had the American government supporting and sponsoring the South African government, which was killing our our parents and our forbearers. So for me, what is law? It doesn't matter, especially when lives are being taken, the preservation of life comes first. So I don't want us to discuss semantics. I want us to discuss the people. And the [Russian-speaking] people were ethnically targeted and they were persecuted. And this is what we found on the ground. And it's undeniable that even post February 24th, Ukraine has also been responsible for killing Ukrainian citizens of Russian descent.
On whether they have any proof of Nazism in Ukraine
We see the the evidence through not only social media, but we have friends all over the place who share some of the content. We've seen the posts of Zelensky that he posts and deletes because he does not know that we can decipher some of those [Nazi] images. He has not called to order those soldiers that put on that symbolism. We are not here to push a Russian narrative, but we are here to say that we are against Nazism and we are against politicians and superpower leaders who think that they can speak on behalf of the people. We are here to represent the views of the people and what we found in the Donbas area. The people there have never had a problem with being Russian in Ukraine. However, their language has been killed. It's a fact that the government has nullified the Russian language in Ukraine and has continued to persecute and target the Russian-speaking people in the Donbas area. There's nothing as important as self-determination considering the fact that those people are under severe attack.
On whether the ANCYL would support Cape independence under the notion of self-determination
There is a group of people that arrived in South Africa in 1652 and started to kill aboriginal South Africans. They pushed away our people. They killed them. They took our cows, they took our land and turned us into salves. If you are going to speak of Cape independence, we must speak of Cape independence on the understanding that the land actually belongs to the Khoi and San who have been annihilated. I maintain that settlers cannot come and tell us, in our country, that they want independence. We didn't chase them away. I maintain Mandela said, we have to forgive them, not the other way round. So I'm not going to have a settler tell us they are going to take our land. And by the way, we are not killing any minorities in Cape Town. There is no targeting of minorities. We have forgiven people who have not apologised and now they have the audacity to come here and tell us that they want independence. There's no independence they are going to get. What they will get is a reconciliatory efforts to co-exist. If they want annexation of the Western Cape, then that annexation will be on the side of the Khoi and the San. There are no settlers here that think they are going to take Cape Town, we will show them there's no such thing that's going to happen. Cape Town and the Western Cape have forever and permanently been part of South Africa. But what you find in Ukraine is it used to be a part of the Soviet Union. It's very opportunistic for that extreme white narrative to come here and want to tell us that they are going to annex the Western Cape.
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