2009/11/03
ANC Youth League president Julius Malema has for the first time praised former President Thabo Mbeki as a hero of the ANC whose struggle credentials could never be erased from the history of the ANC.
Malema has in the past been very critical of Mbeki, even accusing him of leading a political conspiracy against President Jacob Zuma. But yesterday he sang a different tune, even likening Mbeki to such ANC stalwarts as former President Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo, Walter Sisulu and Albert Luthuli.
Malema even referred to Mbeki as “President Mbeki” when he addressed young physically challenged people in Mthatha.
“President Mbeki is a member of the ANC; he is a former president like OR Tambo, like Nelson Mandela, like Albert Luthuli … if you speak to children of South Africa, and in particular of the Eastern Cape, you need to call the names that are exemplary, the names they can associate with and inspire them.”
Malema said Mbeki’s recall was not the “firing of him from the ANC, neither was it rubbing off his credentials in the struggle and his role in the liberation of South Africa”.
He said whatever happened to the ANC did not change the fact that he had been part of the struggle. “He has been our president, he has been our hero and he will remain in the books of the ANC… you can’t talk history of the ANC and not talk about President Mbeki.”
Malema, who is to address a big rally in Mthatha today for the ANCYL’s 65th anniversary celebrations, promised the Khwezi Lokusa Special School for the Disabled that the ANCYL would donate 50 wheelchairs, half of which would be electronic and remote-controlled. Zuma would hand them over before the schools closed for the December holidays, he said.
Malema also took a swipe at the opposition for criticising Zuma’s comment that he was a leader in the making who deserved to inherit the ANC one day. “I am in the ANC, the ANC sends me everywhere to solve problems and intervene, so when the opposition jumps I don’t know what makes them jump; I am a leader of the ANC by virtue of being the president of the ANCYL. President Zuma was not saying anything that is unheard of,” Malema said. - By LUBABALO NGCUKANA
Mthatha Bureau
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