Why is the ANC Youth League calling for Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka to clear Zuma when he has already said that he is not going to prosecute him?
It is a simple logic that if you are not going to bring him to court you must make an unequivocal statement that clears him. They cannot say you are guilty but we cannot prosecute you. It is wrong and unjust. If he is not prosecuted there will always be a smell of corruption about him. We are acting in defence of our movement. We want justice to be done. If they were taking him to court we would wait until the process is concluded but now there are secret meetings held and he is rubbished both in public and in secret. Clearly there is something else happening here, which is bigger. There are other motives at play
What are these other motives?
The motives are clear in the statement made at the secret editors’ meeting that “this man is not fit to be president of the country”.
The matter of the investigation has nothing to do with the extent to which he is in debt, his friendship with Indians or even the arms deal. A wrong perception is being created that the investigation has something to [do] with the arms deal when several investigations have said there is nothing improper with the arms deal.
Surely it has everything to do with the arms deal because Zuma was being investigated for soliciting a bribe from a company [involved] in the arms contract?
Yes, but that company had already won the contract and was not being investigated. There is more to this than meets the eye. We don’t know whether the issue is Zuma being in debt or having Indian friends.
The issue about Schabir Shaik was not about being Indian but that he appeared to have complete control of Zuma’s finances and was also a businessman bidding for government contracts.
So, does the deputy president have to go around paying his accounts or looking for a house to buy? Does he not have more important work to do? The issue of who handles his finances is irrelevant.
If you read Shaik’s charge sheet, many of the allegations are linked to his work for or with Zuma.
Yes, it is a way of putting Zuma on trial indirectly. The matter is being clouded so that there is confusion about what is being probed and who is being probed.
What is your view on allegations that Ngcuka was possibly an apartheid spy?
We believe in his innocence until he is proven guilty. We hope the commission appointed will put the matter to rest.
What is the league’s view of a proposal that there should be a comprehensive inquiry into apartheid spies?
We support such a process. It has nothing to do with Ngcuka. But we need to know who were the people betraying our struggle. A person who did not come clean about his past cannot be trusted by the government of the movement that he worked against in the past.
But how can people who were labelled spies possibly prove their innocence once they have been stigmatised?
To leave the matter unattended does not help because it is like burying our heads in the sand.
What do you say to the allegations that the Youth League received cars from [controversial businessmen] Roger and Brett Kebble?
I invite [Ngcuka] who made the allegations to come and point out the cars.
But were the Kebbles involved in any business deals with the Youth League?
The Youth League has shares in a company [name withheld] which does business with everyone because it is in the public market. If we had raised money from the Kebbles we would say so. But to say they bankrolled us is to tell a lie knowingly. I think above everything else this is an abuse of position. Ngcuka must come clear on a secret meeting that is now open knowledge.
What do you say to criticism that the Youth League of today just parrots its mother body’s opinions without engaging in robust debate like the Youth League of Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, and Anton Lembede, which in fact ousted the then president of the ANC when they felt the organisation was stagnating?
That is both a distortion of history and poor analysis. The Youth League from its inception never directed its militancy against the ANC. The Youth League has always voiced its criticism internally.
But you do not hesitate to do that against an alliance member, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu)?
Firstly, we are a youth league of [the] ANC, not Cosatu. We criticised Cosatu only in response to what we saw as a serious threat to the unity of the ANC and of the alliance. There are many positions where we differ with the ANC but to go outside the structures will mean that we no longer have confidence to argue our points at ANC national executive meetings.