The ANCYL is being dragged to court by leader of the DA in the provincial legislature, Roy Jankielson over claims made by the organisation that he deems to be defamatory. The two day proceedings were meant to kick off on Tuesday, April 23, but ended up being postponed to mid-August 2019. 

The two parties, with their legal counsel met on Tuesday morning, before proceedings were meant to get underway. Jankielsohn says the respondents requested a postponement which he agreed to on condition that the ANCYL cover legal costs meant for the two-day sitting. They thereafter applied and obtained a cost order against the respondents. Jankielsohn expresses disappointment that they were unable to continue, telling OFM News, “I would have preferred for the case to go on”. Despite this, he considers the granting of the cost order as a victory. 

The DA cast doubt around the legitimacy of the honorary doctorate, awarded to ANC Secretary General and former Free State Premier, Ace Magashule’s by the Turkish tertiary institution, Bahcesehir University in 2017. Jankielsohn alleged the Turkish University in question had received approximately R 32 million from the provincial government over the 2016/17 financial year prior to awarding Magashule the doctorate. 

He explains that the ANCYL made defamatory and derogatory comments about him in the public space thereafter. “The ANCYL made defamatory comments about me calling me a clown, a redneck, a racist, a Chihuahua and various other things instead of dealing with the issues which we raised, they chose to defame me in a statement in public” says Jankielsohn.

The ANCYL spokesperson, Sello Peterson has dismissed the claims as “baseless”, adding “they will not stand in a court of law”. Peterson says they have been advised to not comment further seeing as it is still going to be heard in court. 

OFM News