The ANC grand send off of one of its longest serving cadres Gertrude Shope who passed on aged 99, concerns about the use of the name Umkhonto weSizwe by former President Jacob Zuma. Speaker after speaker made a point to explain that they were not referring to MKP each time they said “MK”. Former Speaker of Parliament Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula was more forthright telling the packed memorial service held at the church in Centurion on thursday … that those who left Zuma to MKP have done so out of frustration and should be recruited back into the ANC.
Mapisa-Nqakula’s assertion drew cheers and applause as did ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula’s swift rebuttal. Members of the ANC Women’s League packed the venue celebrating Shope who was a revered combatant of the party’s armed wing.
Mapisa-Nqakula, also a former defence minister was part of ANC armed wing and spoke in that capacity, suggested that the ANC was inadvertently pushing its members towards Zuma’s MKP which has displaced the former liberation movement in many voting stations across Kwazulu-Natal and to some extent in Gauteng as well as Mpumalanga.
“I am very, very sad that we have some comrades. there are just some comrades I’m still worried about that they decided to go and join uMkhonto weSizwe, not the uMkhonto weSizwe we know. You see, I’m concerned and my view is that not everybody is there because they want to. They are there to… you know there are generals there.I know that fortunately, my general is in uMkhonto weSizwe today. Don’t give up on her, guys don’t give up on her and don’t give up on the many comrades who have gone to uMkhonto weSizwe because they don’t belong there,” said Mapisa-Nqakula in an emotional speech.
The former speaker who now faces corruption charges stemming from her tenure as defence minister was rebuffed swiftly by Mbalula who argued ANC members should avoid talking MKP saying doing so makes the new party, now the official opposition, more popular.
“And of course, War Liberation Veterans present here and represented by a parent uMama Nosiviwe ( our mother Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula)Comrades, let’s not talk about things that don’t exist.
“People who have left us and stole our things are not part of us, let them burn there and I know it’s going to get messy, there’s trouble already for them. We have not left that battle as the veteran that was speaking here ( struggle veteran Mavuso Msimang ) but we have realised the more we talk about them, the more we mould them, the more we build them. Let us talk about what we do.We must fix what is supposed to be fixed for war veteran, that is how these soldiers of our former army will respect the African National Congress.
Improve the lives of our former military combatants and we are on top of that situation,” said Mbalula as he acknowledged Mapisa-Nqakula.
Mbalula said the ANC was indebted to the Shope family for their mother dedicated her entire life to the Mass Democratic Movement (ANC led and aligned cocktail of anti apartheid formations generally identifying as progressive), committing to honour her memory.
“To the Shope family, we say: Thank you for sharing her with the nation. Her love for her people was boundless, but we know it was you who kept her heart anchored. As the ANC and the broader liberation movement, we say: We will honour her memory by upholding the values she fought for – unity, selflessness, and service to the people,” said Mbalula. Shope who was just 3 months shy of becoming a centenarian, is expected to be laid to rest on Saturday in a Special Official Funeral.
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