The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) wants government to follow the timeline for the implementation of free education, which the ANC set down at its Mangaung conference.

"If the timeline and resolutions from Mangaung had been adhered to, we wouldn’t be here,” ANCYL president Collen Maine said on Thursday.

He was referring to the current wave of student protests calling for free higher education.

The league wanted free tertiary education implemented, either at the end of the year, or in 2017.

At its 53rd national conference in Mangaung in December 2012, the ANC resolved to start implementation of free higher education by the end of 2013.

Maine said he disagreed with ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe’s statement that the ANC had more than exceeded the goals for education contained in the Freedom Charter.

According to the charter, access to higher education should be based on merit. Instead, the ANC had indiscriminately helped those wanting higher education, Mantashe said last Monday.

"We don’t know where he is coming from," Maine said.

He said they needed to debate the concept of merit with Mantashe.

While the ANCYL said it agreed with the students’ demands, it denounced the violence and destruction of property seen on campuses.

It planned to show its support for students by taking part in protests with them, holding talks with President Jacob Zuma, asking the private sector for help, and marching to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.