ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe says the party wants a vocal and militant youth league, SABC news reported on Wednesday.

"The youth must always be militant, vigilant and questioning," he said at the ANC Youth League's 64th anniversary in Johannesburg.

"They must always be in a position to question their underpinning of any rational argument." Motlanthe's remarks came in the wake of sharp criticism by the ANCYL on statements he made to newspapers.

On Wednesday, he said the youth would be in the forefront of bringing about changes for the better. "Because as you grow older you tend to accept any conditions. You tend to rationalise and explain them away."

The ANCYL recently said in a statement it was "concerned and very disturbed by media articulations" of Motlanthe.

The Mail&Guardian reported Motlanthe as saying he had told the ANCYL it had to take responsibility for its statements.

ANCYL president Julius Malema recently had to explain to the SA Human Rights Commission why he publicly stated that its members were "prepared to die for Zuma, we are prepared to take up arms and kill for Zuma".