In an unprecedented move, the Young Communist League has distanced itself from its national chairman, David Masondo, who criticised ANC president Jacob Zuma in a weekend newspaper. League national office bearers yesterday said they distanced themselves and their organisation from Masondo's views. He lashed out at Zuma for his business dealings in a City Press article on Sunday.
Masondo said the ousting of former president Thabo Mbeki in 2007 was billed as a shift towards ''egalitarian economic policy, including Black Economic Empowerment [BEE]". But instead ''BEE is increasingly becoming too narrow, amounting to ZEE - Zuma Economic Empowerment''.
Masondo based his attack on the recent multibillion-rand ArcelorMittal SA deal in which Zuma's son is involved. But it seems his colleagues in the Young Communist League are not amused. League national office bearers said in a statement that Masondo had not canvassed the opinions with members before he publicly attacked Zuma. "We have emphasised the need to desist from public attacks on any leader of the [ANC-led tripartite] alliance in the manner in which Comrade Masondo has attacked the president of the ANC and of the republic, and will further take this engagement internally," said league spokesman Gugu Ndima.
The Young Communist League said it has raised its concerns about the Arcelor-Mittal BEE deal and corruption, but has called on it members not to make public attacks on any leader of the alliance as Masondo did in the article. "There are already strained relations within the alliance partners and, as a result, the [league] will play no further role in deepening these strained relations but will seek to. build unity and cohesion of the alliance. We call on all our members to exercise restraint and ensure that we use all organisational platforms to raise whatever issues that we deem burning before resorting to public pronouncements."
Source: Times Live
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