The African National Congress (ANC) has called for restraint from its members in the wake of the murder of Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) leader Eugene Terre’Blanche, and has also urged them to avoid songs that polarise society.
“Our appeal to our members is informed by the fact that we have a responsibility of ensuring that they are not used as a scapegoat for other agendas,” secretary general Gwede Mantashe told reporters at Luthuli House in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
Mantashe confirmed that this call was made to all structures of the ANC, including its youth league.
He confirmed that he spoke to the league’s president, Julius Malema, on Tuesday, but began the briefing by saying reports that Malema was gagged were “more fiction than fact”.
ANC Youth League spokesperson Floyd Shivambu earlier denied that the party’s leadership met Malema.
Mantashe said the ANC took a “broader approach” to the issue.
“We met yesterday [Tuesday] as officials and decided that in view of the environment … all our structures, not Julius, not so and so, all structures of the ANC … must restrain themselves.
“Structures were asked not to engage in public debate on the death of Mr Eugene Terre’Blanche …
“The structures were also asked by the officials to be circumspect in singing liberation songs that have words that can be seen and be interpreted to be contributing to racial polarisation of society.”
Mantashe said this did not amount to a ban on the song.
Rather, the party’s top brass would at its next meeting in May decide on “an appropriate political approach” to dealing with the song.
“In the current environment, the debate about how best to preserve songs must unfold in the ANC.”
Mantashe said the song was used to “capture the mood and the moment”.
“Now the debate that must take place in the ANC … is how do we use the songs to capture the mood and the moment.”
He said it was “the considered view” of the officials who met on Tuesday that the restraint called for would help “society see through the disguised attempts by the right-wing groups” who sought to reverse the progress made in transformation since 1994.
“The restraint will remove excuses … to whip up racial hatred.”
Dismayed
On the murder of Terre’Blanche last Saturday, Mantashe said the ANC found it “very unfortunate” that the media and political commentators have politicised a criminal matter.
It was “mischievous and wrong” to link Terre’Blanche’s death to the song — which the AWB and some other political formations have done.
“Equally important is the lack of reporting and equal sensation around the shooting and killing of a black hunter by a farmer who is currently out on bail of R5 000.
“We are also dismayed by the little coverage of the brutal assault of seven farm workers by a farmer in the North West.”
Mantashe also said the media were silent on the 15-year-old, a minor, accused of killing Terre’Blanche, working as a labourer on a farm.
He brushed aside questions on the consequences should any ANC member fail to heed the call for restraint.
He said the ANC structures were “autonomous but integral” and their relationship was not that of “master and servant”.
He said the ANC would explain the importance of that restraint and it would “manage” differences that emanated from the structures on the matter.
Once the ANC’s national executive committee and its national working committee discussed the matter, the debate would then filter down to the structures.
Interim order
ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu said: “The request for restraint is an interim order pending the discussions by our structures.”
Less than a month ago, the ANC defended the singing of liberation songs after a high court banned the singing of the words “shoot the boer” contained in one of them.
Mantashe said the party would challenge the ruling in court. Mthembu on Wednesday said that the challenge was likely to proceed this week.
Mantashe had taken a break from a meeting with the Afrikanerbond on Wednesday to address the media.
He said the meeting had nothing to do with the song, but was “about the broader approach to building a successful South Africa”. — Sapa