ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa has come out strongly to denounce his predecessor, former president Jacob Zuma, for endorsing and campaigning for the Umkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party.
Ramaphosa made the remarks at the ANC 112th anniversary rally at the Mbombela Stadium in Mpumalanga yesterday.
After blue-ticking Zuma for almost a month since he came out with his backing of the MK, a buoyant Ramaphosa labelled MK as “a rebel movement”.
Without mentioning him by name, Ramaphosa said Zuma’s move was meant to eat away at the ANC support, and reverse the gains of democracy, orchestrated by the ANC.
“The anti-transformation forces are converging into pacts while at the same time seeking to fragment the forces for change through splinter groups and small parties that will contest the ANC,” said Ramaphosa to the 45 000 cheering ANC supporters who packed the venue.
“Another anti-transformation tactic is to ensure that the ANC is locked in internal struggles that will weaken and destroy it from within.
“They actively encourage rebel break-away groupings to erode the support base of the ANC. Often, these start as factional conflicts within the ANC but when the movement pushes ahead with its renewal, they mutate into opposition parties that are as opposed to the ANC as right-wing opponents of transformation.”
He urged the ANC supporters to be vigilant and not fall for Zuma’s radical talk.
Any attempts to weaken the ANC’s strength, the president charged, would be met with political force and the staying power of the ANC.
Said Ramaphosa: “Some of these parties masquerade as more radical than the ANC, but their revolutionary-sounding rhetoric cannot hide the reality that they have common cause with the forces opposing transformation.
“The shared goal of all these forces is to deprive the ANC of the ability to use state power to effect change.”
According to Ramaphosa, Zuma’s wish would not come true because the ANC’s alliance with Cosatu and the SACP strengthened its fighting capacity.
SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila echoed Ramaphosa’s sentiments about labelling the MK as a “rebel movement and counter-revolutionary” that will be defeated in national and provincial elections. Mapaila said the party will pull all stops to ensure the ANC remains the dominant and majority party in South Africa.
“Our revolution is under threat both from inside and outside the revolutionary movement. An outside threat comes from monopoly capital that seeks to maintain profitability at all costs,” said Mapaila.
“The second threat comes from the inside with these breakaway movements that are beginning to use our symbols for their own self-interests.
“This is a counter-revolution in motion, and it must be defeated. As we declare our support for the ANC, these counter-revolutionary forces are even trying to intimidate ANC councillors to resign so there can be by-elections, there is nothing revolutionary about that.”
