 Stop stealing struggle heroes - Mantashe Sibusiso
Ngalwa,
Sunday Times, Johannesburg, 15 May 2011
This is according to ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, who was responding to the DA's claim that it was the true representative of the values of these stalwarts.  "The DA is, in real terms, a recycled old National Party, because all the verligtes (moderates) came to the ANC and all the verkramptes (conservatives) went to the DA. Now for that recycled NP to claim it is the custodian of the Freedom Charter of Mandela and of (Chief Albert) Luthuli, of the struggle for freedom ... the reality is that that is theft, daylight robbery. You want to wear other people's clothes to hide your real identity. That is what is called in the Bible a wolf in a sheepskin," said Mantashe. The DA's claim to ANC heroes was because it had none of its own, he said. "What I know is that Chris Hani, Walter Sisulu, Mandela, Luthuli, Tambo and everybody that the DA tried to usurp as theirs will never wear a blue T-shirt. "A party that has no history will have nothing to quote; it will steal heroes of the ANC. On the one hand, they are stealing our clothes and, on the other, they are acknowledging the good track record of the ANC. The reality is that the blue party must be blue; it cannot be black, green and gold." Mantashe said ANC members would never be confused by the DA. He said the ANC would increase its majority in Wednesday's local government elections and dismissed the DA's projections that they stand a chance of winning Joburg. "There is no 50/50 in Johannesburg; we are going to win comfortably. There is no contest about Midvaal; we are going to wrestle Midvaal out of the DA control. We are going to do much better in Cape Town ... chances of us winning back Cape Town are very high." The election campaign was an eye-opener, as it "demystified" the widely held perception that there had been little service delivery since 1994. "That is a myth (that there has been no delivery). We have been to rural municipalities and we discovered that people acknowledged delivery, but they need more. We should accept the right of our people to raise those things." Mantashe said it was incorrect to create an impression that ANC councillors were disliked by their communities, as the majority enjoyed their support. "For instance, I cannot defend a mayor in Moqhaka who builds open toilets and doesn't disclose that, even when there is a public debate about the Makhaza open toilets, only for us to find that the company that provided those toilets is linked to her. That is corruption outright, and you must never defend that." He said it was pointless for the ANC to act against the mayor a few days before elections. "You can't say she's still a mayor. There are (three) days to go ... If she is number two on the (candidates') list, after the elections we'll have to act on that. "We ran a good campaign and the results will tell." From: http://www.timeslive.co.za/Politics/article1067606.ece/Stop-stealing-struggle-heroes---Mantashe You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . |
