The African National Congress (ANC) has accused an ANC Youth League region of ill-discipline and “naked opportunism” after it called for Sport Minister Makhenkesi Stofile to be sacked.
The party said on Thursday it was outraged by the “divisive and misplaced” comments by the league’s eThekwini region.
It said a region of the league had no place to pass judgements on the performance of a Cabinet minister on matters unrelated to the league.
“These unfortunate utterances betray glaring ignorance of the league on the work of the Cabinet collective organising the 2010 Soccer World Cup,” it said in a statement.
“These utterances also smack of ill-discipline and defiance of the [national executive committee] decision calling on all structures of the movement not to attack and undermine each other in public.”
Structures should raise problems within the movement and not through “media posturing and naked opportunism”.
The ANC had full confidence in Stofile and the Cabinet collective responsible for organising the tournament.
The league’s eThekwini chairperson, Lindela Ngwazi, said on Wednesday President Jacob Zuma should fire Stofile because he had performed “shockingly” during the World Cup.
“We believe that Stofile has been a periphery figure during the Soccer World Cup,” Ngwazi said.
“Arts and Culture Minister Lulu Xingwana has always been in the spotlight since the start of the tournament and the sports minister was nowhere to be seen,” he said. — Sapa