The ANC said it had it dispatched President Zuma to Cosatu's May Day Rally in Bloemfontein on Monday knowing that there might be problems.
In a statement today, ANC national spokesperson, Zizi Kodwa, that the deployment of ANC leaders to the various May Day rallies "was a collective decision of the National Officials not some fictitious structure called the Top 3, as reported by news broadcaster, ANN7.
Kodwa said the decision "was taken by the national officials fully aware of the potential for heckling and other disruptions."
"Regardless of the potential for discord, the leadership felt it necessary and correct that invitations as received from COSATU were honored and the ANC message calling for unity of the Alliance be delivered," Kodwa said.
He said members of the media have a responsibility to report the news accurately, factually and objectively. "ANN7 however seems determined to manufacture false consensus, sharpening contradictions and deepening fissures in the ANC," Kodwa said.
"The station effectively acts as a mouthpiece of the factional divisions that plague the African National Congress, consistently showing itself as being intent on driving wedges within the organization and pitting comrade against comrade," he charged.
"This is behavior that the ANC has fought in the past and will continue to do so in the run up to the National Conference and beyond. The unity of the African
National Congress remains paramount and our overriding ambition. We will not be distracted in this quest by narrow, self-serving interests whose motivations can only serve to further weaken the ANC," said Kodwa.
