Cape Town – Former Gauteng Premier and ANC member Mbhazima Shilowa has cautioned South Africans not to be misled by the ANC’s public criticism of former President Jacob Zuma.
According to SABC, Shilowa, a co-founder of the breakaway party Congress of the People (COPE), asserted that recent attacks on Zuma are driven by the ANC’s political interests rather than the country’s concerns.
He suggested that those now criticising Zuma felt betrayed because he was not only cutting off their support but also taking away their political benefits.
Shilowa urged people to question these criticisms and not accept them blindly, emphasising the self-serving motives behind the public condemnations.
“There are many individuals, both from inside and outside of the ANC and in the country, that were insulted by people like Mbalula, Gwede, Zwelinzima because they were all about supporting Jacob Zuma.
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“So when today they say this fellow is bad, we must not only take it with a pinch of salt, we must say to them ‘no, you think we are stupid’. They feel betrayed because like I say in that article, not only is he removing the bread from their mouths, he’s decided he’s also going to take the trough, so they won’t even have the feeding trough to feed from going forward,” the report quoted Shilowa as saying.
Last week, ANC national chairperson, Gwede Mantashe, acknowledges the need for disciplinary charges against Zuma after the former president nnounced his decision to de-campaign the ANC, opting instead to support and vote for the new uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party.
Mantashe spoke on the Clement Manyathela Show on Radio 702.
Despite Zuma’s claim of remaining an ANC member, Mantashe asserted that Zuma was aware he had severed ties with the ANC.
Gwede Mantashe tells me on #TheCMShow the ANC WILL take action against Jacob Zuma through a DC, but that will only be after the elections. “We don’t want to be distracted in an election year”.
— Clement Manyathela (@TheRealClementM) January 18, 2024
Mantashe said it was best to document Zuma’s public commentary about the ANC so that when the time came, the party could formally put it to him when they confirm the end of his membership in the party, EWN reported.
“He is speaking the language of an ANC of Ramaphosa, meaning when he was president, we were basically his slaves, we were working for him, an ANC of Jacob Zuma. My own view is that lessons were given in the ANC, including by him, is that nobody is bigger than the ANC in the ANC,” Mantashe said.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
