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The ANC Youth League has come out in defence of President Jacob Zuma after yesterday’s funeral of ANC stalwart Ahmed Kathrada, at which former president Kgalema Motlanthe read extracts from Kathrada’s open letter to Zuma last year, in which he appealed to the president to step down.
“The ANC Youth League condemns in the strongest possible manner the usage of funerals of our stalwarts for political posturing, point-scoring and grandstanding,” the league said this morning.
Yesterday, Motlanthe quoted Uncle Kathy’s words as he delivered a eulogy for the revered activist: “Is it asking too much to express the hope that you will choose the correct way that is gaining momentum, to consider stepping down?”
The league has said that it had found itself searching for Motlanthe’s own “consciousness when he uses funerals to advance his political views and take swipes at the president”.
Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema – a former leader of the ANC Youth League – said yesterday that Zuma had to respect the family’s wishes.
“We know how Uncle Kathy felt about the president and we were encouraged by [former] president Kgalema Motlanthe, who spoke the truth and described the last wishes of Uncle Kathy,” he said.
“In African tradition the wishes of the dead must be respected and Uncle Kathy’s wish was that the president must step down and he is a true Africanist.”
The president was not present at the funeral. The presidency had stated that Zuma would not attend the funeral or memorial service “in compliance with the wishes of the family”.
League secretary-general Njabulo Nzuza said that the league was “disturbed and angered at the knowledge that ANC President Comrade Jacob Zuma was practically barred from attending and mourning at the funeral of Isithwalandwe Ahmed Kathrada”.
The league also called out the chairperson of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation – Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa – for using his “privileged position as chair of this foundation to fight his own battles by barring the president from attending the funeral of his own comrade”.
“We want to state it categorically that the ANC Youth League will remain the family of President Zuma. He is welcomed all the time as a father figure and a struggle icon who played a big role to liberate this country in the ANC Youth League. We reiterate our support for the president fully and unconditionally,” Nzuza said.
The country has been on high alert following the recall of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and his deputy Mcibisi Jonas, from their trip to the US and the UK, when president Zuma ordered their immediate return to the country. A Cabinet reshuffle is imminent, according to sources.
Neeshan Balton, director of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, took the opportunity to speak directly to Gordhan at yesterday’s funeral, when he said: “Irrespective of whether you’re a minister or not in days or weeks to come, you remain true to the values and principles that Ahmed Kathrada would be proud of.”
The league remarked today that the president should “continue discharging his duties unabated, including rearranging and strengthening his Cabinet.”
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