Winnie: 'We have lost the soul of the ANC'
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
Jan 24 2010 14:49
The power-struggle in the ANC-led alliance is "disgusting", the Sunday
Independent reported ANC stalwart Winnie Madikizela-Mandela
as saying.
"That is not my ANC, where positions have become so important,"
Madikizela-Mandela said in an interview with newspaper.
"The bickering is all about leadership. It is all about positions. That
is the disgusting debate we are having. That is how much we have lost
the soul of the ANC," she said.
Madikizela-Mandela also said it would be detrimental to former president Nelson
Mandela if he knew about the tensions in the ruling alliance.
"His children are sort of keeping him away from it all because I think
that is what would quicken our journey to eternity," she said.
Madikizela-Mandela also said ANC Youth League president Julius Malema
was her "product".
"His rebellious attitude is part of the process of growing up. And he
will make a great leader one day."
Cracks surfaced last year in the alliance between the ANC, the South
African Communist Party (SACP) and the Congress of South African Trade
Unions (Cosatu).
Alliance leaders called for unity at the ANC's 98th anniversary
celebrations in Kimberley in January.
"Much more needs to be done to improve the alliance relations at
national and sub-national levels," said ANC president Jacob Zuma at the
time.
SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande echoed his words. "We want to say
that at no stage of our history did we need to strengthen our alliance
as we do now," he said.
At the same event Malema asserted the ANC's central position in the
alliance and political power in the country.
Madikizela-Mandela called for ANC members to return to their roots.
People must remember that the ANC is bigger than any of us. The ANC
leads. We will overcome this," she said.
Alliance 'alive and healthy' in Gauteng
Meanwhile, the party's Gauteng provincial executive committee said on
Sunday that the alliance was "alive and healthy".
Committee secretary David Makhura said however that the ANC was the
leader and the strategic centre of power in the alliance.
"This gives the ANC a responsibility to lead and ensure that all issues
of disagreements are resolved in a comradely and amicable manner without
resorting to public spats," he said.
Makhura told reporters that the committee had decided to hold an early
provincial conference in May due to the Soccer World Cup.
Holding the conference before June, he said, would enable the party to
use the conference to prepare for this year's events.
"The process is also an important platform to debate and develop
policies, renew and rejuvenate structures and elect leadership," he
said.
Makhura said it was too early to say who would stand or not stand for
re-election as the process was yet to begin.
In March, he said branch members of the ANC would debate policy issues
and elect their candidates to hold office in the provincial leadership.
He also said that the party would use this year's conference to right
the wrongs of the past by developing clear guidelines to ensure lobbying was
consistent with the party's constitution.
"Discussion documents will be developed and distributed to branches on
the policy issues for consideration in preparation for the national
general council," Makhura said.
The Soccer World Cup was one of the priorities of the party.
"The PEC will lead a major campaign to mobilise our people in different
sectors to support and participate in all the build-up festivities and
actual events during this historic moment in the lifetime of our
nation." - Sapa
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