Stop bickering, leaders warn ANC members
2012-04-03 18:53
Johannesburg - ANC leaders on Tuesday warned members against bickering and negative lobbying.
"We must constantly remind ourselves of the consequences that are inevitable should this continue," said secretary general Gwede Mantashe at an impromptu media briefing in Johannesburg.
Earlier, the Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association called on the party's national disciplinary committee of appeals to summarily expel Julius Malema.
This followed Malema's recent remarks at a centenary lecture at Wits University that President Jacob Zuma was a dictator and was suppressing the league.
The ANC's treasurer Mathews Phosa was present when Malema made the remarks.
On Tuesday morning, the ANC Youth League also called a media briefing at Luthuli House, accusing the veterans of looking for attention and trying to please their "girlfriends".
Mantashe said the national officials found themselves in compromising positions by being implicated in statements where ANC leadership was denigrated and insulted.
"This too must stop," said Mantashe, reading from the statement by the top six officials present at the briefing - including Zuma.
"Public platforms do not provide the space for a person who is unfairly criticised to respond or for a debate to ensue that will allow correction, self-corrections and growth of an individual."
He urged members to use various structures within the movement to raise concerns.
Mantashe referred to the league's centenary lecture in which Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe was forced to correct "deviant" behaviour by people at the rally who wore T-shirts with his face on them.
"It is a sad reality that the ANCYL has chosen this year of the ANC celebrating its centenary to attempt to portray the ANC as undemocratic and unresponsive to the voices of the youth, thus bringing the organisation into disrepute," he said.
Youth members in Cape Town also attempted to disrupt the second lecture in honour of the ANC's second president, Sefako Makgatho.
Mantashe said the matter was under investigation and that action would be taken.
- SAPA
