Cape Town – Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has reportedly said that she has a right to freedom of speech because she fought for this country.
Sisulu said this, following reports last week that she was set to appear before the ANC integrity commission to explain her opinion piece criticising the country’s Constitution and judiciary.
“The officials of the ANC have met with Sisulu on Monday and there’s another meeting that’s going to take place between her and the deputy-president. I have been informed that the Integrity Commission has also called her. I don’t know when she will be appearing before them but she will be appearing,” eNCA quoted ANC Treasurer General Paul Mashatile as saying last week.
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But citing Sunday Times, The Citizen quoted Sisulu as saying that she knew about the meeting.
“I do not know anything about the integrity commission. I would have been the first person to know. Was I supposed to appear today? For what?.
“I wasn’t at the NEC [national executive committee]. I was at a funeral of a relative so I do not know what they discussed at the NEC,” Sisulu said.
Sisulu, who is the daughter of revered anti-apartheid activists Walter and Albertina Sisulu, launched her extraordinary attack on both the judiciary and the constitution in opinion pieces published by the Independent Online recently.
The 67-year-old veteran minister derided unnamed senior judges as “mentally colonised Africans” who are “only too happy to lick the spittle of those who falsely claim superiority”.
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She also attacked South Africa’s ground-breaking post-apartheid constitution, saying that it has failed to improve the lives of the majority of black South Africans still living in poverty.
Her remarks, which triggered heated debate, fuelled speculation that Sisulu is planning to run for the leadership of the ruling African National Congress at a party conference in December.
Ramaphosa is widely expected to seek a second five-year term but could face a challenge from a faction of the party that is loyal to corruption-accused ex-president Jacob Zuma.
Sisulu has served as a lawmaker since the advent of democracy in 1994 and has been a cabinet minister for more than 15 years.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
Additional reporting by AFP
