Home » ANC Apologises for Heckling Incident at Ahmed Kathrada’s Durban Memorial

ANC Apologises for Heckling Incident at Ahmed Kathrada’s Durban Memorial

ANC Treasurer General Zweli Mkhize apologised Sunday night, on behalf of the ANC, for the heckling incident which disrupted the Ahmed Kathrada memorial service in Durban (watch below). Both Mkhize and keynote speaker – former Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan – were booed and heckled by ANC Youth League members. Despite efforts to control the crowd, their […]

By SAPeople
10-04-17 00:09
in Eish!

ANC Treasurer General Zweli Mkhize apologised Sunday night, on behalf of the ANC, for the heckling incident which disrupted the Ahmed Kathrada memorial service in Durban (watch below).

Both Mkhize and keynote speaker – former Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan – were booed and heckled by ANC Youth League members. Despite efforts to control the crowd, their behaviour forced the service to end abruptly.

In a statement, Mkhize said:

“The memorial service of Cde Ahmed Kathrada in KwaZulu-Natal was today marred by a heckling incident against me. At a personal level such heckle does not affect me. I have been through worse situations and understand this in politics. For some people it’s their way to express themselves

“It is clear that the ANC leadership has a huge task to embark on political education to teach our youth tolerance of different views and respect for the memory of those who sacrificed their lives for our freedom.

“The memorial service was a beautiful representation of the nonracial and non sexist credentials of the ANC from the youth to senior citizens many of whom have known struggle credentials.

“On behalf of the ANC we wish to apologise to those who were invited, for the embarrassment and inconvenience caused.

“The behaviour remains unacceptable now as it has always been when it happened to other leaders in the organsation as it erodes on the respect for the ANC.

“It is a challenge leadership has to address.

“There is need need for leadership to dismantle factions which are tearing apart the organisation and urgently work to rebuild unity and deal with differences which play out in the open

“We call on all comrades to avoid using such solemn occasions to exacerbate tensions and embarrass the ANC.”

Earlier Gordhan had warned the disruptive ANCYL members: “If we can’t unite amongst ourselves there’s no hope for us in 2019, remember that… We can carry on squabbling amongst ourselves… we will lose the confidence of people from all walks of life, from all over South Africa… We don’t want to.”

Watch Ahmed Kathrada’s Memorial Service in Durban Disrupted