admin
Pietermaritzburg — President Jacob Zuma has hit out at those who have called him a liability. An angry Zuma voiced his irritation at former president Kgalema Motlanthe’s recent utterances.
“I’ve heard rumours that I’ve become a liability,” he said at the ANC’s KwaZulu-Natal conference in Pietermaritzburg on Saturday.
“How can a member of the ANC be referred to as a liability . . . No member can be a liability.”
A clearly irritated Zuma also took a shot at Motlanthe who spoke out about the party and the alliance.
“I will be a member of the ANC until I die . . . I’m not going to out there and criticise the party like others,” Zuma said.
In an interview with Business Day, Motlanthe spoke on a number of issues including the tripartite alliance, the state of the ANC, its leaders and members.
He claimed that the ANC was currently made up mostly of members and leaders “devoid of the kind of political ability and consciousness required to maintain a united and non-racial society”, the newspaper reported.
He said internal democracy in the party was impaired.
Motlanthe also said the tripartite alliance — between the ANC, SA Communist Party and Congress of SA Trade Unions — was dead and anyone who believed otherwise was delusional.
The alliance only existed in name, he told the newspaper. Zuma said, “I read an article where one comrade who said the alliance was dead, they’re politically bankrupt . . . It’s cold out there…”
Zuma says there are comrades who have been in the leadership of the ANC and they are now the biggest critics of the ANC.
“Why now when they’re sitting out there they have wisdom? When they were in here, why did they not bring that wisdom? ‘Alliance is dead!’ . . . They must sit down and be quiet. In fact, (an) unwritten rule is when you’re out — don’t criticise those who come after you . . . simple A, B, C, D . . .
“Don’t provoke us too far. Don’t. We’ve a job to do, to achieve prosperity. Don’t. No one is bigger than the ANC. They are cowards. Just an unnecessary irritation. And we may not tolerate this for too long.”
Zuma also took a jibe at Rev Frank Chikane saying, “Others are pastors, they should stay in church and preach and leave politics to those who know it better.”
Zuma said previous leaders should not criticise current leaders. — AFP
Online Reporter