Chastised Maine apologises
ANC Youth League president Collen Maine has apologised for his calls to the Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association to take up arms in defence of President Jacob Zuma after being ordered by the ANC to do so.
In a hard-hitting statement on Monday, ANC national spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said Maine’s utterances were “unfortunate, irresponsible and reckless”.
At a pro-Zuma march in Durban on Saturday, Maine called on “comrades from Umkhonto weSizwe (MK), bring your guns. Now is the time to defend the revolution. We must do it. Generations that came before did it. They sacrificed their lives.”
In the statement, Kodwa lambasted Maine and said the current challenges facing the country required “reasoned, cogent and decisive leadership, not provocative and demagogic talk. Accordingly, the ANC has instructed the ANC Youth League president to retract these comments.”
Maine could not immediately be reached for comment.
But he was quoted by News24 as saying he had made the aboutturn following a meeting with ANC leaders, including Jacob Zuma, at the ANC Luthuli House headquarters on Monday.
“The president gave me a stern talking to,” Maine was quoted as saying, and he was “unconditionally apologising” to all South Africans.
Maine’s utterances have raised the ire of opposition political parties, who said he was inciting violence.
DA leader Mmusi Maimane’s spokesperson Mabine Seabe said they would be laying criminal charges against Maine at Sunnyside police station in Pretoria today. Cope was reportedly the first party to bring charges against Maine.
ANCYL spokesperson Mlondi Mkhize said Maine’s remarks did not amount to incitement of violence, and that they were taken out of context. He said the statement was received “adversely”, adding they would like to “unconditionally retract the comments made on Saturday”.
“The ANCYL wishes to put it on record that both itself and its president does not promote violence in South Africa in any form.”
They were aware of attempts to remove Zuma from office through the courts and this was tantamount to an “attempted pseudo coup”, the league said.
EFF leader Julius Malema came under fire for remarks he made as president of the ANCYL in June 2008, when he said the youth of South Africa were prepared to die for Zuma. He told the cheering crowd that “we are prepared to take up arms and kill for Zuma”.
Following his expulsion from the ruling party, the EFF leader has used various platforms, apologising to South Africans for the role he played in having Zuma succeed Thabo Mbeki as president.