ANC Youth League tears into Gordhan
THE ANC Youth League has launched a scathing attack on former finance minister Pravin Gordhan, accusing him of, among other things, mobilising along racial lines for the formation of a new political party.
These claims were rejected by Gordhan supporters who said he remained a committed ANC member.
Addressing the eThekwini region’s cadres’ forum, the KZN secretary of the league, Thanduxolo Sabelo, questioned Gordhan’s commitment to the ANC, saying he was “not a true activist”.
“If he was a true activist then he would have mobilised support for the ANC before the local government elections, and we would not have lost all those wards in areas like Chatsworth,” he said to applause from the 200 branch representatives at the Durban City Hall.
Sabelo said the league would not be surprised if Gordhan found a new political home soon.
“In 2007, after the Polokwane conference, Terror Lekota went out and said he now wants to defend the Freedom Charter and called a consultative conference, and Cope was born. In 2012, after he was expelled from the ANC, Julius Malema went and convened what he said was a people’s assembly, and a new party was formed. This one says he is mobilising. What makes us think Pravin will not form a new political party?”
Dr Ashok Chandika of the Active Citizens Movement said Sabelo’s comments were not only hurtful, but also misguided as Gordhan was a diehard ANC member who had given his entire life to the organisation.
“I have known him for three-and-a-half decades and he has never spoken of another party. He is saying the ANC must return to the values espoused by the founding fathers and mothers, and the crooks in the ANC hate that.”
Chandika said Gordhan enjoyed support across racial lines because of what he stood for.
All the attacks against Gordhan were the work of certain factions in the ANC, especially those who were in the ascendancy, Chandika said.
On Sunday, Gordhan is scheduled to address a memorial service to be held in Durban in honour of the ANC stalwart Ahmed Kathrada, who died last week.
The ANC Youth league has vowed to attend the gathering to “correct any distortions about the ANC”, with Sabelo saying the league would not let Kathrada’s name be used to attack the ANC.
Chandika said they were concerned about the threats from the league, and had put measures in place to ensure safety at Sunday’s event.
Anyone who attacked the ANC at the event, Sabelo said, would have to be removed from the podium.
In a veiled threat to Zuma detractors who will be marching in Durban tomorrow, Sabelo called on league members to “march alongside” them. “Teach them how to march.”
But we will be marching for a vote of confidence in President Zuma,” he said.
bheki.mbanjwa@inl.co.za