All Smiles for Madiba
The family of late president Nelson Mandela gathered at his Qunu home yesterday to commemorate the second anniversary of his death. Among those at the lunch table are his widow, Graça Machel, front left, and grandson Mandla Mandela, at the head of the table, with Bantu Holomisa to his right. Next to Holomisa is Mandela’s nephew Napilisi Mandela. To Mandla’s left is Inkosi Ngangomhlaba Matanzima. To Matanzima’s left are Mandla’s mother, Nolusapho Moseshla, his third wife, Nodiyala Mandela, and Mandela’s granddaughter Ndileka Mandela
DEPUTY President Cyril Ramaphosa has launched a veiled attack on EFF leader Julius Malema, calling him a “peacetime revolutionary” for his negative comments on the late Nelson Mandela.
Malema had referred to Mandela as a “sellout”, during his tour of London last week.
Without mentioning Malema by name, Ramaphosa, who was the main speaker at Cosatu’s 30th-anniversary rally at Curries Fountain Stadium in Durban yesterday, described Malema as a “peacetime revolutionary who never went to the trenches”.
“As we celebrate comrade Nelson Mandela . . . there are those who are criticising him.
“These are peacetime revolutionaries who never went to the trenches . . . revolutionaries who never fought . . . rev-
The peacetime revolutionaries] have the temerity to criticise our national icon
olutionaries who know nothing about the struggle,” said Ramaphosa, to applause from the crowd.
Mandela was never a sellout, said Ramaphosa.
“Today [the peacetime revolutionaries] have the temerity to open their mouth and criticise our national icon and say that he sold out. Madiba was never that type of a person. He did not sell out.
“He stayed in prison for 27 painful years because he refused to sell out . . . and those who are now denigrating him . . . rubbishing his name: shame on you,” Ramaphosa sai .
The criticism of Malema follows his controversial remarks during his week-long visit to the UK, where he told his audience during an address to the Oxford Union that “deviation from the Freedom Charter was the beginning of selling out . . . the revolution”.