Mukoni T Ratshitanga
The African National Congress in the Northern Province this week met one of its allies, the Congress of South African Students (Cosas), in a bid to iron out differences between Cosas and MEC of Education Joe Phaahla.
Relations between Phaahla and Cosas hit an all-time low last week when the provincial chair of Cosas, Julius Malema, issued a convoluted press statement calling on Phaahla to resign in three weeks’ time. The statement described Phaahla as “a contraceptive to transformation”.
Phaahla’s lawyers last week ordered Cosas to stop distributing the statement, saying it was defamatory. The students ignored them and went on radio and TV denouncing the MEC.
Phaahla’s lawyers threatened the students with a R100 000 defamation claim and issued a statement to the media instructing them not to publish the statement as it “impaired the status and dignity of the MEC”. They threatened to sue the media for defamation as well if their instruction was ignored.
The ANC this week expressed disappointment in Cosas. “There is no trace that comrade Phaahla is a restraint to transformation,” the ANC said in a statement.
ANC activists in the province said Phaahla would have “stooped very low” had he had sued Cosas.
“[Cosas] has played a role we cannot shy away from. It has issued a statement which we would all agree is politically wrong. The fact that it was inarticulate made things worse. But are we … saying there are no issues of concern?” asked a member of the ANC provincial executive.