'Purge counter-revolutionaries'

2008-07-13 18:08

Johannesburg - Remnants of the counter-revolution including the Democratic Alliance and those opposed to Jacob Zuma becoming SA's next president must be eliminated, said ANC Youth League president Julius Malema on Sunday.

"We must...intensify the struggle to eliminate the remnants of counter-revolution, which include the DA and a loose coalition of those who want to use state power to block the ANC President's ascendancy to the highest office of the land."

Malema was speaking at the funeral of former ANCYL Free State secretary Thabo 'Skotch' Moeketsi in Vredefort.

Malema also said members of the ANC and Youth League who got involved in crime like stealing public monies or stabbing other members were "rotten apples" who should be "uprooted from our midst without mercy.

"The ANC and indeed the Youth League have no place for people who carry sour grapes and create cabals because they believe they are entitled to leadership."

Malema said Zuma would not only be the face of the ANC election campaign in 2009, he would also be "the next President of South Africa".

"The political campaign to rubbish his name and destroy his political career will not succeed."

The National Prosecuting Authority was involved in a "relentless pursuit of an innocent man using state resources"

Thatcher, Agliotti 'let off the hook'

Malema said the NPA had let criminals like Mark Thatcher, Glen Agliotti and many others "off the hook".

"(This) is a sad indictment on those charged with the responsibility to lead this institution.

He said the case represented an "unprecedented attack on the ANC's leadership.

"Our responsibility is to defend the ANC and its leadership with everything we have.

"We remain firm in our determination to unleash every resource at our disposal to obliterate this sham of a case and expose the counter-revolutionary agenda it represents."

Speaking on the current situation in Zimbabwe, Malema said the political crisis should be solved through dialogue.

He said both Zanu-PF and the MDC "must not behave like they have all the time in the world and allow petty squabbles to overshadow issues of national importance.

"Behaving like spoilt brats will never deliver any solution, but will serve to advance the agenda of those who do not want to see Zimbabwe succeed."

- SAPA