ANCYL claims Twitter account was hacked - and they know who did it

The ANC Youth League said on Wednesday that it had identified two former employees of its communications team who "hacked" their Twitter account.

Party spokesperson Mlondi Mkhize said the pair accessed the Youth League account using Tweetdeck, a social media application which allows for the management of multiple accounts. This means the two had been granted a password to the league's account.

“Those two comrades used to be in the communications of the youth league at the time of the [task team]. Those people have subsequently been removed because we were not aware that they still had access,” said Mkhize.

The alleged hack comes amid pressure from some in the league for the ruling party to disband the league’s national executive committee.

On the same day, a group leading the so-called “disband faction” were again marching outside Luthuli House, the ANC’s headquarters in downtown Johannesburg.

The ANCYL account surprised many when it tweeted: “We are protecting people from themselves by our principled call to disband the youth league.”

Another tweet read: “Only I have the password - Oros can’t log me out. Disband now!”

"Oros" is a reference to ANCYL president Collen Maine.

Another tweet read: “We are not hacked, sidiniwe amakhehla [we are tired of old people]. Disband now.”

The tweets have since been deleted.