Johannesburg – African National Congress presidential hopeful Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has lashed out at those who voted against President Jacob Zuma in the motion of no confidence vote that took place on August 8 while she was at her presidential campaign rally in Alexandra, Johannesburg on Saturday.
Speaking in Zulu, Dlamini-Zuma said that those who do not tow the party line were behaving as though they sent themselves to Parliament.
She said that the ANC must continue their work despite their anger and frustration in order to restore discipline and order.
“No-one is above the ANC and anyone who thinks they are above it has lost their consciousness,” she said.
Borrowing the words of former interim president, Kgalema Motlanthe, she said that when someone leaves, they just leave, they don’t say goodbye.
‘They must go’
Various supporters could be spotted in the crowd clad in pro-NDZ regalia.
ANC Women’s League president Bathabile Dlamini echoed the same sentiment while the crowd chanted “Mabahambe! Abagoduke! They must go!”
She said she those who had dissented against the ANC were confusing them as they were asking superiors to decide on whether they should stay in the party or not.
“They said they were using their conscience [so] they must be true to their conviction and remain committed to that conscience. We will look at them, we don’t want them to say we purged them from the party,” she said.
The crowd also cheered when ANC Youth League general secretary Njabulo Nzuza said that the Members of Parliament who had voted against the ANC had to be hunted down and kicked out of the organisation.
“Others will become askaris and sell out the organisation but they… will fail and the organisation must hunt those who sold us out in the past week and make sure that we impose strong and severe penalties to them.
“Those who have already said it in public, who went out and said they will vote against the ANC, we don’t know what they are still doing representing the ANC in Parliament; they should be removed immediately,” he shouted to a boisterous crowd.
Nzuza said that those MPs could not say that they supported and represented the ANC when they turned around and worked to sabotage it.
“We must bring back unity, order and discipline in the party. There are a lot of things we need to fix, but it’s good to remind each other what the ANC has achieved too,” Dlamini-Zuma said stressing that 2017 would have been OR Tambo’s centenary.
Economy
She said that the economy needs to be in the hands of the majority, and that this could be achieved through radical economic transformation.
“Without radical economic transformation, we will continue to build an army of unemployed young people, if [economic growth] doesn’t happen, we will continue to build an army of job seekers.
“It won’t be easy comrades; we must know that it won’t be easy. It will be fought against when government implements it; a big fight will start. As the ANC we must be there for [the party] and support and protect them. We can’t run away,” she said.
She explained that economic transformation would be to the advantage of every South African despite the colour of their skin.
Dlamini-Zuma said economic growth and the opening up of industries traditionally left for white males would help SA attain peace, stability as well as prosperity saying that we needed skills and education to ensure that this happens.
“We must engage with them and say this is what we want for these reasons because it will be to the advantage of South Africa, not individuals. After 23 years, we can’t still be talking about whether black people really should be part of the mainstream economy.
“The Freedom Charter said a long time ago that the people shall share in the country’s wealth,” she said.
Tripartite alliance
Dlamini-Zuma said that after December, everyone would still be comrades despite running against each other in the build up to the elections in December when President Jacob Zuma is set to step down. She stressed the importance of the tripartite alliance.
“December mustn’t cause a dispute between us. Democracy allows for contestation, contestation doesn’t equal division. Let us work through the structures of the ANC until December elections.
“Whoever loses supports the one who wins, and the one who wins supports the one who loses because the winner won because of the ANC. There is nothing there that says that ANC will fall apart. It has never happened before in the ANC that we fall apart because of competition,” Dlamini-Zuma said.
“The alliance was important, and it will continue to be important. Let’s not kill the alliance, we in the branches need to tell our leaders that we want a strong alliance,” she said.
She called on supporters to not vote for people they liked, but rather people who they could justifiably vote for because of their work with the people.
She mentioned that the youth needed to fight against the abuse of women and called for more order and discipline among the youth.
“We must know our rights and exercise them, but also know our responsibilities and exercise them. These two go together to help us attain unity, order and discipline,” she said.
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