Tone down the tribalism

IS PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma a 100 percent proud Zulu boy or a 100 percent tribal chauvinist?

The Nxamalala slaughtered six cattle thanking his ancestors for guiding him to victory against Kgalema Motlanthe at Mangaung.

We know that before the conference, he summoned the Nxamalala clan to burn impepho, asking his ancestors to give him blessings to retain his position.

When, in 1952, Chief Albert John Luthuli became ANC president, no ancestors were thanked.

In exile, I was a delegate at the Kabwe conference in 1985 where we retained Oliver Tambo as president.

When we returned, we elected Nelson Mandela (1994) and Thabo Mbeki (1997, 2002) as presidents but ancestors were not invited.

This practice by Zuma smells of tribalism as if Nxamalala have a say in the ANC elective conference. Is he a new Buthelezi in the ANC?

A leader who never criticised T-shirts with the words “100% Zulu Boy” behaves like a Bantustan leader who used tribalism to frustrate the United Democratic Front from operating in KwaZulu-Natal.

In 1912 we as the ANC sang “Zulu, Xhosa, Pedi, Ndebele, Tswana, Sotho, Venda etc unite”, but today we have a president who thanks his clan and ancestors for defeating another comrade as if Mbeki and Motlanthe are half ANC. PROSPERITY THWALA

Soweto