While a Cosatu-affiliated union leader described Julius Malema as part of a "marauding gang" threatening to destabilise the ANC, the youth leader in turn warned the federation's Zwelinzima Vavi to stop demanding lifestyle audits. At the centre of it all is a low-intensity war triggered by succession tensions ahead of the ANC's 2012 national conference, following skirmishes over the 2007 conference.
The youth league wants to replace ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe with Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula. This has angered Cosatu and the SA Communist Party as they see the coup intentions as motivated by anti-communist sentiments. Irvin Jim, general secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) has questioned President Jacob Zuma's silence while Mantashe was being attacked by Malema. Jim intimated that Zuma had failed Mantashe by not defending him.
Numsa singled out Malema and accused him of causing divisions within the alliance. Jim warned Malema that he would have to work very hard to remove Mantashe. "We know that he (Malema) has been one of the people among the ANC Youth League, which is not a class organisation, who have been talking. "We sat down and analysed what has been said and we will defend the ANC because we believe that it is not the property of unscrupulous individuals who are only interested in their wealth and tenders," said Jim. He said a number of alliance members wanted communists and trade unionists out of the alliance.
Numsa said the ANC in the provinces was being used for financial gain - and cited that all provincial ANC conferences had been contested in the quest for power over government tenders. "There's a network of marauding gangs who don't sleep and they impose their hegemony on others... and they do as they wish. "The ANC is not an organisation of tsotsis (thugs) who would sit in shebeens and decide to put their friends as leaders. "Mantashe is being eaten alive and Malema should have been reprimanded," said Jim. "Those who've said Mantashe must go are threatening to weaken, fragment and destabilise this movement. Enough is enough," said Jim. He said Malema was not the only ANC leader to have been booed in public, referring to the jeering of the youth league president by SACP delegates in Limpopo last year.
Numsa questioned why the ruling party had drafted a report to the ANC national executive committee on the booing of Malema but had failed to do the same when former President Thabo Mbeki and his deputy Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka were booed while in office. "When Julius is booed at the SACP, there must be a report, but Terror (Lekota) got booed in Polokwane, Thabo (Mbeki) was booed in KwaZulu-Natal including Phumzile (Mlambo-Ngcuka) and there was no report," said Jim.
The union also backed the SACP's call that all the names of people, including politicians, who applied for state tenders should be made public to prevent the "depletion" of taxpayers' money. Cosatu general secretary Vavi wants politicians' lifestyles to be audited to expose their inexplicable wealth.
At a meeting between Cosatu and the ANC Youth League leadership yesterday, Malema apparently told Vavi that his demand for audits would expose some of the leaders in the left "who pretend to be working class". According to an insider, Malema said the so-called Left leaders were not as clean as they appeared to be.
Source: IoL
Showing posts with label Mosiuoa Gerard Patrick Lekota. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mosiuoa Gerard Patrick Lekota. Show all posts
Friday, February 19, 2010
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Lekota: revolutionary songs ANC policy
ANC national chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota has defended his negative remarks about people singing freedom songs such as Umshini Wami, saying the issue was not about ANC Deputy President Jacob Zuma, but about policy. Speaking to journalists at a media briefing on Wednesday, the defence minister said although he was talking to a specific audience when the remarks were made, the essence of what he said was relevant to everybody. "These liberation and freedom songs are not pop songs, which we sing for personal entertainment here and there. "These are instruments of revolution, cultivated since the inception of our movement," he said. They had been sung with a purpose, and been used to advance the ANC's policies, to announce them, and popularise them.
The songs had changed as policy positions had changed as the ANC went through its phases of struggle. This was why the ANC national executive committee (NEC) - following the conclusion of the negotiations at Codesa - had stepped in when Peter Mokaba continued using slogans such as "kill the boer, kill the farmer", which clearly flew in the face of policy.
The ANC had to look at what it was it wanted to say to the people, Lekota said. "We have a responsibility to unite the people of this country. We carry the responsibility to unite these people and to reconcile them, and to focus their attention on the task of national upliftment and a better life for the people. "Leaders of the ANC, therefore, cannot behave like anybody else on the street. I want to see the ANC work in the interests of the people of South.
Source: IoL
The songs had changed as policy positions had changed as the ANC went through its phases of struggle. This was why the ANC national executive committee (NEC) - following the conclusion of the negotiations at Codesa - had stepped in when Peter Mokaba continued using slogans such as "kill the boer, kill the farmer", which clearly flew in the face of policy.
The ANC had to look at what it was it wanted to say to the people, Lekota said. "We have a responsibility to unite the people of this country. We carry the responsibility to unite these people and to reconcile them, and to focus their attention on the task of national upliftment and a better life for the people. "Leaders of the ANC, therefore, cannot behave like anybody else on the street. I want to see the ANC work in the interests of the people of South.
Source: IoL
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Zuma 'not right in the head'
The supporters of African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma were fuming on Monday after the party's national chairperson, Mosioua Lekota, took off the gloves in the ANC succession race by suggesting that Zuma was "not right in his head" by persisting in singing the "Umshini Wami" (Bring me my machine gun) song after the armed struggle had been abandoned.
Lekota, who is also minister of defence, was quoted on SABC TV News on Sunday as saying the ANC had suspended the armed struggle during negotiations with the apartheid government and thereafter it was totally abandoned. He was addressing a function in Gauteng to commemorate the Delmas treason trial, where he and other anti-apartheid activists were tried. Lekota did not refer to Zuma by name but many of his backers saw his statement as an attack on Zuma as "Umshini Wami" was his popular song. 'We expect Lekota to rise above petty squabbles. He did not understand why a person "obhadlile ekhanda lakhe" (who is right in his head) could keep on saying "bring on my machine gun" when the armed struggle had long been abandoned.
Political analysts saw Lekota's statement as indicating "gloves-off" ahead of the important ANC conference in Limpopo in December. There were angry reactions from Zuma backers who described it as "unfortunate and uncalled for". ANC Youth League spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said Lekota had "stooped so low". "As the national chairperson of the ANC we expect Lekota to rise above petty squabbles. But we are not surprised because this is indicative of personal frustration on his side because as we discuss the future of the ANC and its leadership, his name does not feature anywhere.
'This song was sung by our cadres during difficult times in exile' "He thinks people have abandoned him and it confirms our assessment of him is correct in that he should not be included in any key leadership position," said Kodwa.
He warned that revolutionary songs should not be interpreted literally. We did not expect such a thing from the national chairman of the ANC. "This song was sung by our cadres during difficult times in exile. "When we sing it, we do so to remember those times and to ponder the future," he said.
Don Mkhwanazi, the chairman of the Friends of Jacob Zuma Trust, a body charged with raising defence funds for Zuma, urged that there was a need to understand the song in its correct context. The song, he said, was being used figuratively to reflect on the challenges still ahead for the country. "Because of what has happened in South Africa, the national democratic revolution is not complete yet. "We have arrived at a political destination but we have not really arrived at the promised land, where political and economic equity will be realised. The song actually means that we must be vigilant and vigorous in defending the gains that we have made because there are certain things that are beginning to fester, like perceived selective justice which is going to undermine the rule of law. No one wants to shoot anyone; we have passed the stage of shooting but we cannot stop to defend our gains," said Mkhwanazi.
Zuma's aide, Renjeni Munusamy, said she could not comment as Zuma was out of the country. Political analyst Nhlanhla Mtaka said with the ANC conference on the horizon, the country was entering an interesting time where people, formations and cabals would be tempted to attack their opponents at every opportunity. "Particularly with provinces announcing their nominations, some leaders might be tempted to fight for their names to be there. "The unfortunate part in this exercise is that it will be the image of the ANC that will be tarnished as senior ANC members enter the street fight ahead of Limpopo. "However, it will not be those who are vocal that will win the day but those who present themselves as statesmen in the midst of this raging political storm," said Mtaka.
The spokesperson for Lekota, Sam Mkhwanazi, could not be contacted for comment.
Source: IoL
Lekota, who is also minister of defence, was quoted on SABC TV News on Sunday as saying the ANC had suspended the armed struggle during negotiations with the apartheid government and thereafter it was totally abandoned. He was addressing a function in Gauteng to commemorate the Delmas treason trial, where he and other anti-apartheid activists were tried. Lekota did not refer to Zuma by name but many of his backers saw his statement as an attack on Zuma as "Umshini Wami" was his popular song. 'We expect Lekota to rise above petty squabbles. He did not understand why a person "obhadlile ekhanda lakhe" (who is right in his head) could keep on saying "bring on my machine gun" when the armed struggle had long been abandoned.
Political analysts saw Lekota's statement as indicating "gloves-off" ahead of the important ANC conference in Limpopo in December. There were angry reactions from Zuma backers who described it as "unfortunate and uncalled for". ANC Youth League spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said Lekota had "stooped so low". "As the national chairperson of the ANC we expect Lekota to rise above petty squabbles. But we are not surprised because this is indicative of personal frustration on his side because as we discuss the future of the ANC and its leadership, his name does not feature anywhere.
'This song was sung by our cadres during difficult times in exile' "He thinks people have abandoned him and it confirms our assessment of him is correct in that he should not be included in any key leadership position," said Kodwa.
He warned that revolutionary songs should not be interpreted literally. We did not expect such a thing from the national chairman of the ANC. "This song was sung by our cadres during difficult times in exile. "When we sing it, we do so to remember those times and to ponder the future," he said.
Don Mkhwanazi, the chairman of the Friends of Jacob Zuma Trust, a body charged with raising defence funds for Zuma, urged that there was a need to understand the song in its correct context. The song, he said, was being used figuratively to reflect on the challenges still ahead for the country. "Because of what has happened in South Africa, the national democratic revolution is not complete yet. "We have arrived at a political destination but we have not really arrived at the promised land, where political and economic equity will be realised. The song actually means that we must be vigilant and vigorous in defending the gains that we have made because there are certain things that are beginning to fester, like perceived selective justice which is going to undermine the rule of law. No one wants to shoot anyone; we have passed the stage of shooting but we cannot stop to defend our gains," said Mkhwanazi.
Zuma's aide, Renjeni Munusamy, said she could not comment as Zuma was out of the country. Political analyst Nhlanhla Mtaka said with the ANC conference on the horizon, the country was entering an interesting time where people, formations and cabals would be tempted to attack their opponents at every opportunity. "Particularly with provinces announcing their nominations, some leaders might be tempted to fight for their names to be there. "The unfortunate part in this exercise is that it will be the image of the ANC that will be tarnished as senior ANC members enter the street fight ahead of Limpopo. "However, it will not be those who are vocal that will win the day but those who present themselves as statesmen in the midst of this raging political storm," said Mtaka.
The spokesperson for Lekota, Sam Mkhwanazi, could not be contacted for comment.
Source: IoL
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