OWN CORRESPONDENT, East London | Sunday
AFRICAN National Congress heavyweights, including Deputy President Jacob Zuma, turned the funeral of presidential aide Parks Mankahlana’s into a giant ANC local elections rally, lambasting those who had defected from the ANC or become independents.
In front of thousands of mourners at the Sisa Dukashe stadium in Mdantsane, Zuma lashed ANC members who had defected to other parties or who had become independents, a criticism echoed earlier by ANC MP Peter Mokaba.
Zuma said they could not be compared to Mankahlana, who was always loyal to the ANC and was always ready to by deployed in any capacity without question.
“Parks was a cadre of a specific generation which would never go and join other parties, because they have not been appointed to leadership roles.”
In his address, Mokaba said those ANC members who had registered as independent candidates had only done so because they were not on the party’s election lists.
At least 42 ANC members from East London and Port Elizabeth have registered as independent candidates, with several more from other parts of the province.
“When we wanted you to fight as soldiers during our struggle for revolution you did not do so. But now you are fighting to be our leaders because you want to fill your own stomachs,” Mokaba said.
Earlier, National Intelligence Agency director-general Vusi Mavimbela said that two months before Mankahlana’s death, doctors had told him he would be very lucky to live beyond six months.
However, he did not refer to the cause of Mankahlana’s death, which has been widely speculated in the media to have been Aids-related despite denials from his widow. None of the other speakers referred to the issue in line with the presidency’s view that it was a private family matter.
On Mankahlana’s bad press towards the end of his life, Mavimbela said he had advised his friend to stop buying newspapers, as they were not good for his health.
“But Parks smiled and likened himself to a fish and the media to water, saying no fish could survive without water.”