It is reported that former President Nelson Mandela was whisked off to an ANC rally last week by his grandson, chief Mandla Mandela and former ANC Youth League leader Fikile Mbalula. Why are they making the 90 year old Mandela do all this? I had thought that Mandela had decided to stay away from active politics now and take a much deserved break but that looks like it is not the case after his appearance at the ANC rally in Idutywa, Eastern Cape. Some have come out and said Mandela was ‘forced’ to go but I do not believe that. Surely Mandela can not be forced to do something he does not want to do so this trip to the rally was his own free will.
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The battle between COPE and ANC is heating up. COPE’s youth leader, Anele Mda, and labour convener Willie Madisha went on a bashing spree during a rally in the Eastern Cape where Madisha, referring to Zuma, said: “We will be the laughing stock of the world when we have a leader (who) says ‘I will rape and shower’.” COPE leaders have quickly come out and “unconditionally” apologised to the ANC and it’s president Jacob Zuma for the inflammatory statements. Mda told the crowd that should Zuma become president, then we would “have a government that is going to make raping official.”
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With the current political situation in South Africa, there is a fear that we could be headed into a phase of political violence in the build up to an election as we saw in Zimbabwe. Now many would think that this is not possible in South Africa but believe me, anything can happen and the writing is already on the wall.
The newly formed Congress of the People (COPE) has already had some problems from ANC supporters who have tried to stop their meetings from taking place or just purely pitched up at the COPE meetings and started to make noise and chant ANC slogans. It is clear that there is a section of ANC supporters out there who do not like COPE and would want COPE to fail and one way of achieving that could be through violence.
Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan has come out and said that the formation of the Congress of the People (COPE) party was due to the “lack of assertiveness and visionary leadership within the ANC over a period of time”, this in reference to the leadership during the Thabo Mbeki era. So this means that, if Mbeki were a ’stronger’ leader then the divisions in the ANC would not have taken place and thus there would be no need for the formation of the breakaway party?
Jordan went on to say that the lack of leadership “weakened the ruling party’s moral authority and undermined its integrity”. What are your thoughts about these claims?
The new political party in South Africa which wants to be called the Congress of the People is under pressure as the ruling ANC party are planning to block the new party from adopting this name. The ANC is taking legal advice on the use of the name Congress of the People because it says that the name, the Congress of the People, is an event in the calendar of the ANC. It’s the function, where in 1955, the Freedom Charter was adopted.
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Many have been wondering why Julius Malema has been quiet over the last couple of weeks. We had all gotten to hear Malema saying one thing or another, from saying he will “kill for Zuma” and criticism of the judicial process in connection with the now withdrawn corruption charges against Zuma. So why the change in Malema’s stance? Has the ANC Youth League President looked himself in the mirror and seen that he was being ‘offside’ in the past? Or has he had someone give him a quiet word in the ear and told him to ’shhhh’?
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Yesterday (Saturday 1 November), marked yet another historic day in the politics of South Africa. As many had anticipated, a new political party will be born in South Africa in the Free State on December 16. Mbhazima Shilowa, former Gauteng premier, said the new party “which has yet to be named” will not only “take on” the dominant ANC, but “is going to win the next election”. The new party, to be formed as a break away from the ruling ANC will have a name and logo different from the ANC as the leaders want to build a brand new identity.
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Is it right or fair to judge someone’s actions based on their matric results? Last week, reports surfaced about ANC Youth League President, Julius Malema’s matric results. Apparently an email containing Malema’s results showed that the outspoken leader scraped through matric with an H in maths and a G in woodwork, both on the Standard Grade (SG). The email reveals that Malema, passed matric with Es in Sepedi HG and second language Afrikaans HG, an F in geography HG, D in history SG and a C in second language English HG, the latter being his highest mark. The ANC Youth League was quick to come out and say that this information was not true and that the email was fake and compiled by a person with an agenda.
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The possibility of a new political party in South Africa is gathering momentum. Former Minister of Defence, Mosiuoa Lekota and former Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa are at the forefront of this new party which is set to be formed as a rival to the ruling ANC with members of this new party set to break away from the ANC. What is worrying for the ruling ANC is that about 50 of their MP’s are set to join this new political party. Who exactly these 50 MP’s are still awaits to be seen.
The first true test is going to come when Parliament has to vote on the controversial legislation that will disband the Scorpions and set up a new unit in its place. Observers think that the 50 MP’s set to leave the ANC and join Lekota and Shilowa will vote against the bill and side with the opposition and thus disbanding the Scorpions will not go as easily and smoothly as had been initially thought. So all eyes will be on Parliament this Thursday to see what happens when the votes for the bill come into play.
It looks like the days of calling our nation rugby team the Springboks could be over. An intense first day of the National Sports Indaba ended in Durban today with many delegates calling for the Springbok emblem to be stripped off from the national rugby team. South Africa’s sports federations are calling for the Boks to loose their emblem as they are the only national team that still uses the Springbok and that they should use the King Protea just like everyone else.
As expected, this decision has not been welcome in some quarters, most notably from SA Rugby themselves. The Springbok has not only become an emblem that the whole country relates to the national rugby team with but it has also become a huge commercial brand for SA Rugby. It would be a drastic change for many to have to leave the Springbok. Can you imagine going to watch the Springboks (okay, for now we will call them ‘The National Rugby Team’) and be chanting “Go Protea!” instead of “Go Bokke”? Go Protea does not seem to have that ring to it.