The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) advised Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu to tell himself every hour that Jacob Zuma would be president of the country after the April 22 elections.
”Once again, the ANCYL advises Archbishop Tutu to repeat every hour [even on his prayers] until the 23rd of April 2009 that President Jacob Zuma is president of South Africa,” the league said in a statement on Friday.
”By doing so, he will be joining millions of South Africans; including opposition parties who have internalised the fact that President Jacob Zuma is the incoming President of the South Africa.”
Their advice was in response to Tutu’s comments earlier this week that he was not looking forward to a Zuma presidency and that Zuma’s corruption case should be determined in court.
Zuma is expected to be president after the April 22 general elections.
The league said it was ”disgusted” by Tutu’s ”rantings” and although it respected the cloth, it realised the need to impart some advice to him while he mixed religion and politics.
This was that he psychologically prepare himself for the reality that the ANC would once again be affirmed as the government and the world ”including New York” have appreciated Zuma’s new position.
”The notorious archbishop should not worry about explaining anything to the people of New York, as they already know and appreciate that President Jacob Zuma will be president of the ANC,” they continued.
”In his democratic right to criticise the ANC, Tutu should at least have the decency to respect the rule of law and all process that the [National] Prosecutions Authority has to undertake within the ambits of the law,” said the league, which has in the past been critical of the investigation against Zuma.
On Friday the NPA is expected to announce its next move, after accepting representations from Zuma’s lawyers in a bid to convince the authority to stop the case against him.
Earlier this week prosecutors met to discuss his case, which involves 16 charges that he faces, as well as separate charges targeted at arms company Thint relating to alleged irregularities in an arms deal.
These private representations are permitted in terms of the Constitution, and they were supplemented with representations from the opposition Democratic Alliance, which wants the case to go ahead and for the matter to be settled in court.
Tutu, who was awarded a Nobel peace prize, was one of a number of religious leaders who lobbied against apartheid as part of an ecumenical movement. He incurred the wrath of the then ruling National Party and its sympathisers by speaking out against it.
He has said a number of times that he is concerned at the direction in which the ANC is moving, which has upset the ruling party and its allies. — Sapa