Cronin chides Zuma at Kathrada memorial

South Africans should not allow the economy and the government to fall into the hands of gangsters, was the common theme at anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada’s memorial in Cape Town on Thursday.

Kathrada, fondly remembered as Uncle Kathy, became one of the most vocal critics of President Jacob Zuma’s leadership in his last days and once begged the head of state to “submit to the will of the people”.

His memorial service in Cape Town, the second such event held in his honour, with the first having taken place in Johannesburg on Saturday, became a rallying point for anti-Zuma sentiment and a battle cry against state capture.

South African Communist Party (SACP) deputy general secretary Jeremy Cronin and former finance minister Pravin Gordhan attended Thursday’s memorial in Cape Town.

Cronin, whose party is in alliance with the ANC and has called on Zuma to step down, said the president’s decision to fire Gordhan and Mcebisi Jonas against the backdrop of speculation about state capture showed that the ANC had lost its moral compass.

This was why Kathrada wrote his open letter to Zuma, Cronin said.

“When Kathrada politely requested Zuma to resign, he did not do it because it was personal. It was not because he imagined that [the] removal of a president on its own would end the problems of SA.

“He did it out of genuine concern for the ANC and the moral repugnance at what had been happening to the movement,” Cronin said.

If the relationship between Zuma and Gordhan had broken down because Gordhan would not rubber-stamp unsound and crooked executive decisions, then it was unacceptable for the ANC’s national working committee to accept the president’s apology for not consulting before instituting his surprise cabinet reshuffle last week.

The SACP wanted an inquiry set up in the next three months into the relationship between the Gupta family and stateowned entities, that ministers and their deputies be subjected to lifestyle audits and that Zuma step down, said Cronin.

Gordhan said: “It’s been a tough 15 months. There are dark clouds gathering on the horizon and it is at this time that we turn to figures like Comrade Kathy to learn what these mean and how we overcome them.”