African National Congress (ANC) national executive committee member and former ANC Youth League deputy president Ronald Lamola says an increasingly youthful country cannot continue to be served by leaders who are not able to relate to their challenges.

He was speaking to journalists in Centurion, where he delivered a lecture on the issue of land and expropriation without compensation.

Lamola said he agreed with the current youth league's criticism that young people had been completely overlooked in President Cyril Ramaphosa's recent Cabinet reshuffle.

"You can't have a youthful nation, youthful challenges, and do not have youthful people that address the issues that relate to the youth," he said.

The NEC and national working committee member said although the Cabinet changes were "not helpful to a youthful nation", he appreciated that Ramaphosa's reshuffle was a balancing act.

"Maybe we can pardon him and the officials on the basis that this was a balancing act, all of us have seen, it was not easy because there were people they had to take out and bring in," he said.

Lamola also refused to confirm or deny whether he had been approached to serve on the new president's Cabinet, but said the time was not right as he was not a Member of Parliament and was still working at his law firm.

However, he did not rule out the possibility of serving in the president's executive after the 2019 general elections.

"I do not have ambitions of going there; I am still practising, but I know many young people on the lists of the ANC in the National Assembly, lots of young capable comrades, graduates of the youth league who are competent in the National Assembly, who could have played that role," said Lamola.