Attempts to claim guardianship of the ANC’s icons and traditions as a weapon in the party’s leadership battle appear to lie behind the postponement of celebrations commemorating the 40th anniversary of the death of former ANC president Albert Luthuli.
The Mail & Guardian is in possession of a letter sent on Thursday by acting KwaZulu-Natal premier Zweli Mkhize’s office to organisers and government departments notifying them that “due to the unavailability of the President [Thabo Mbeki] on 21 July 2007, Chief Albert Luthuli’s Commemoration Event scheduled for that day has been postponed until further notice”.
However, presidential spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga said any postponement had nothing to do with Mbeki being unavailable. “This is simply not true. The department [of arts and culture] will issue a statement in due time, but … the president is available.”
On Wednesday, the national department of arts and culture had announced that Mbeki would deliver a keynote address and lay a wreath at Luthuli’s gravesite in Groutville on July 21.
A source close to the planners said that Luthuli — the first African to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1960 — was a “rallying point” for members of the ANC and the event would enhance the public image of those involved.
With KwaZulu-Natal premier and known Mbeki supporter S’bu Ndebele away in Japan, the source said, “Mkhize and the forces of [Jacob] Zuma have stifled the whole thing so that the project is not launched”.
Zuma has long cast himself as the custodian of ANC traditions, most obviously during the reburial of the remains of communist icon Moses Mabhida earlier this year.
ANC provincial secretary Senzo Mchunu strongly denied there was a battle between government and the KwaZulu-Natal ANC for control of Luthuli’s legacy.
Mchunu said plans to commemorate Luthuli’s death “by an ANC-controlled government” were “welcomed by the ANC in the province”.
Any allegations that the Zuma camp was attempting to gain control of the event “would be far-fetched allegations bordering on lies”.
The spokesperson for Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan’s office, Sandile Memela, said the event had been postponed “due to incomplete logistical processes” regarding dates and venues.