Mabuza: Skweyiya ignored when demanding end to corruption

FORMER Minister of Social Development Zola Skweyiya was ill-treated by the ANC leadership for demanding the end of divisions in the ruling party and state corruption.

This was one of the assertions made by Deputy President David Mabuza, who yesterday paid tribute to the late ANC leader by assuring other veterans they would not be treated with disdain for expressing concerns over the party’s weaknesses.

Mabuza made the remarks during the memorial service of Skweyiya at the Tshwane Events Centre in Pretoria after his death on April 11 – three days before his 76th birthday.

Skweyiya was part of a group of ANC veterans who included the Reverend Frank Chikane, Mavuso Msimanga, Sheila Sisulu, Barbara Masekela who spoke out against ill-discipline and corruption in the ANC.

He wanted the party to get rid of its ills ahead of the ANC national elective conference in December last year.

The group formed themselves into ANC Veterans 101 but according to Mabuza, the then leadership under Jacob Zuma shut the doors against them and refused to listen to their concerns.

Yesterday, Mabuza recountted the efforts Skweyiya and the veterans undertook to set the ANC on a right path.

“We must acknowledge where we veered off the road and did not do things right.

“Dr Skweyiya detested cliques and factions and was known always to stand above all such formations in the ANC.

“He expressed his unease with the developments in the South African government,” said Mabuza.

“At the sunset of his life, he lamented that we the leaders of his beloved movement had become hostile. He despised the purging of comrades by dominant factions. And he bemoaned gatekeeping, disunity and corruption.”

Mabuza said the ANC shut the door on Skweyiya and veterans when they wanted to engage on issues of concern around the ANC. “As the leadership, our preoccupation with our own sense of security, rendered him and other veterans invisible.”

He said the ill-treatment of Skweyiya by his own party did not force him to lose hope that the ANC would renew itself.

“As we mourn his passing, we wish to assure his spirit and the veterans of the ANC that we regret some of the omissions we have committed in the service of our people.”