ANCYL: Club a show of black empowerment
2011-02-01 09:46
Johannesburg - ANC Youth League (ANCYL) president Julius Malema's comment about a nightclub in Cape Town was meant to show that the party had made great strides in empowering blacks in ownership, it said on Monday.
"Contrary to what is reported, the ANCYL president said that the freedom and right for black people to own a club in a predominantly white territory is a freedom and right that came because of the ANC," the league's spokesperson Floyd Shivambu said in a statement.
"He (Malema) then made an emphasis that even the reactionary DA government cannot curtail that right because it’s now entrenched in our Constitution," Shivambu said.
The statement followed reports that Malema had said Western Cape Premier Helen Zille will not be able to stop the "ANC's nightclub" from opening with the province’s liquor by-law.
He was apparently referring to the upmarket ZAR club, launched in Cape Town's Waterfront on Saturday, at which sushi was served on half-naked women.
‘No interest in ANCYL nightclub’
The launch party was reportedly attended by scantily dressed models and was overflowing with champagne.
The club is owned by tycoon Kenny Kunene. Kunene also runs another upmarket venue by the same name in Johannesburg.
Kunene, reportedly Malema's new best friend, also allegedly indicated that Malema had his vote if he ever ran for president.
The ANC earlier issued a statement distancing itself from Malema's comment, saying that the party was not into nightclubs or partying, but was a revolutionary movement.
"The ANC Youth League and its president Julius Malema fully agrees with the ANC that "it has no interest in running a nightclub or in endorsing its owners," Shivambu said.
"We further do not agree with serving any kind of food on human bodies and have expressed this sentiment publicly in the past," he said.
Shivambu said this should not undermine black entrepreneurs who were breaking new ground and socialising more across racial lines.
- SAPA
