WHAT was meant to be a tribute to Nelson Mandela in Buffalo City turned into an ANC rally, with some party leaders even attacking opposition parties.
ANC national executive committee (NEC) member Enoch Godongwana took a swipe at the DA and Mamphela Ramphele’s Agang SA.
“There are two parties in South Africa – it’s the DA, and they stand for the rich, and it’s us, we stand for the poorest of the poor. Others are just upsetting us and then the DA,” said Godongwana. “Agang is not upsetting us, it can’t take people from us, it will only take people from the DA,” he continued, to loud applause.
Godongwana was the keynote speaker at the event, which is one of six that Buffalo City Metro is funding with R10-million of ratepayers’ money.
Yesterday the Daily Dispatch reported that the council resolved to draw the R10-million from the municipal savings account and other directorates to book venues and bus people to the events leading up to the funeral on Sunday.
Godongwana further berated Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters, saying they were not going to beat the ANC at the polls next year or even in 2019.
He said the only reason they wouldn’t beat the ANC was because “their people” had not registered to vote, not because people were going to vote for them.
“Ours is to go out one by one, ensure people go out and register and make Mandela’s party rule forever,” he said.
The memorial, held at the East London City Hall, was packed with ANC supporters wearing party T-shirts and even the decorations were mainly in ANC colours, with just a few BCM banners.
Only the metro’s deputy mayor Themba Tinta spoke on behalf of the municipality while all speakers represented the ANC alliance, both in the region and nationally.
At another memorial service at the University of Fort Hare in Alice, the emphasis was on Mandela’s commitment to education.
The university’s vice chancellor Dr Mvuyo Tom said Mandela regarded education as the most powerful weapon for change, and if the country wanted to honour and remember him they should prioritise the improvement of education, especially in the Eastern Cape.
Tom told a capacity crowd that filled the Great Hall, and which included students, religious formations, military veterans, correctional services personnel and ANC party members, that Mandela had been passionate about education.
He said if the country wanted to mourn him in a dignified manner, “education improvement must be everybody’s business”.
“If we want to remember him well, if we want to honour his spirit adequately, each and every one of us needs to go back to areas where we grew up and studied, and make sure that the quality of the education in those areas is improved,” Tom said.
Mandela enrolled for a law degree at Fort Hare in 1939 and was expelled from the institution in 1941 for his involvement in politics.
He later enrolled at the University of Witwatersrand to complete his law studies.
ANC Youth League provincial task team leader Ncedo Kumbaca echoed Tom’s words and also highlighted how Mandela was passionate about education.
ANC national executive committee member Edna Molewa said it was Mandela’s dream to see “all of us, especially the youth, obtaining that education”.
Eastern Cape House of Traditional Leaders deputy chairman Prince Zolile Burns-Ncamashe said that Mandela’s legacy of hard-earned freedom for the country could only be protected by educated young people. — aphiwed@dispatch.co.za / asandan@dispatch.co.za
ANC turns Madiba memorial into rally, attacks opposition
ANC national executive committee (NEC) member Enoch Godongwana took a swipe at the DA and Mamphela Ramphele’s Agang SA.
“There are two parties in South Africa – it’s the DA, and they stand for the rich, and it’s us, we stand for the poorest of the poor. Others are just upsetting us and then the DA,” said Godongwana. “Agang is not upsetting us, it can’t take people from us, it will only take people from the DA,” he continued, to loud applause.
Godongwana was the keynote speaker at the event, which is one of six that Buffalo City Metro is funding with R10-million of ratepayers’ money.
Yesterday the Daily Dispatch reported that the council resolved to draw the R10-million from the municipal savings account and other directorates to book venues and bus people to the events leading up to the funeral on Sunday.
Godongwana further berated Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters, saying they were not going to beat the ANC at the polls next year or even in 2019.
He said the only reason they wouldn’t beat the ANC was because “their people” had not registered to vote, not because people were going to vote for them.
“Ours is to go out one by one, ensure people go out and register and make Mandela’s party rule forever,” he said.
The memorial, held at the East London City Hall, was packed with ANC supporters wearing party T-shirts and even the decorations were mainly in ANC colours, with just a few BCM banners.
Only the metro’s deputy mayor Themba Tinta spoke on behalf of the municipality while all speakers represented the ANC alliance, both in the region and nationally.
At another memorial service at the University of Fort Hare in Alice, the emphasis was on Mandela’s commitment to education.
The university’s vice chancellor Dr Mvuyo Tom said Mandela regarded education as the most powerful weapon for change, and if the country wanted to honour and remember him they should prioritise the improvement of education, especially in the Eastern Cape.
Tom told a capacity crowd that filled the Great Hall, and which included students, religious formations, military veterans, correctional services personnel and ANC party members, that Mandela had been passionate about education.
He said if the country wanted to mourn him in a dignified manner, “education improvement must be everybody’s business”.
“If we want to remember him well, if we want to honour his spirit adequately, each and every one of us needs to go back to areas where we grew up and studied, and make sure that the quality of the education in those areas is improved,” Tom said.
Mandela enrolled for a law degree at Fort Hare in 1939 and was expelled from the institution in 1941 for his involvement in politics.
He later enrolled at the University of Witwatersrand to complete his law studies.
ANC Youth League provincial task team leader Ncedo Kumbaca echoed Tom’s words and also highlighted how Mandela was passionate about education.
ANC national executive committee member Edna Molewa said it was Mandela’s dream to see “all of us, especially the youth, obtaining that education”.
Eastern Cape House of Traditional Leaders deputy chairman Prince Zolile Burns-Ncamashe said that Mandela’s legacy of hard-earned freedom for the country could only be protected by educated young people. — aphiwed@dispatch.co.za / asandan@dispatch.co.za
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