ANC stalwart Murphy Morobe has taken a jab at the governing party, accusing it of having lost its position as a leader of society due to its inability to address corruption and its own internal problems.
Morobe was speaking at Westpark Cemetery in Johannesburg yesterday during the fourth anniversary of the passing of Struggle icon Ahmed Kathrada.
Morobe is among the initiators of the “Defend our Democracy” campaign, which has been recently launched in response to former president Jacob Zuma’s defiance of the Zondo commission of inquiry and the Constitutional Court over the request that he testifies before the commission on corruption and state capture allegations in which he is implicated.
He lamented that some who had worn “the mantle of revolution” had turned out to be “demagogues and thieves” who furthered their nests at the expense of South Africans.
ANC alliance partners, the SACP and Cosatu, have expressed support of the campaign.
Morobe said it was clear that the ANC itself had morphed into something other than being what used to be referred to as “a leader of society”.
“Its ability to lead society out of the current conundrum has been seriously compromised to the extent that we are suffocating at the degree of cynical disdain expressed at just the mention of its name. The sense of a weakened democratic experience is palpable,” he said.
According to Morobe, the campaign had to date attracted 11,225 people and 70 organisations as they intend it to be “the vehicle through which the compounding voice of the disaffected can be heard loud and clear by those in power”.
“Plans are well in progress about consolidating these gains. These we aim to do around four key themes. The first one is that of defending our constitutional democracy, eradicating capture and bringing to a halt corruption. Secondly, saying no to destabilisation and call for action against people acting as if they were private militias and defending the judiciary,” he said
This comes as Zuma backers vow to protect him from being imprisoned.
Before his death, Kathrada was among ANC stalwarts who had called on Zuma to resign as the head of state during mounting corruption allegations against him relating to his ties with the controversial Gupta family.
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