ANC stalwarts who have been speaking out against President Jacob Zuma and his cabinet re-shuffle said Saturday’s memorial to Ahmed Kathrada was more in keeping “with the way uncle Kathy led his life, without pomp and ceremony.”
However, the ANC stalwarts said it was with great sadness and anger that they had heard of government’s cancellation of the official memorial service.
On Friday, the Presidency announced the cancellation of the official memorial service without informing the Kathrada family, prompting his partner, Barbar Hogan, to declare that President Jacob Zuma “had gone rogue”.
In a joint statement, the ANC stalwarts said that “the actions of the President over the last few days where the advice of the ANC leadership was not sought, and when given was ignored, was an insult to the way that the previous leadership of the ANC had worked.”
“It was also a personal insult to the memory of Uncle Kathy as the sackings and reshuffling of the Executive took place while our national flag flew at half-mast and the country was in mourning at our loss,” the stalwarts statement said.
The ANC in Gauteng also joined Saturday’s memorial service for Kathrada political parties and NGOs continued to shun government in paying tribute to the anti-apartheid stalwart.
