Former President Kgalema Motlanthe has called on African National Congress (ANC) members and leaders to refrain from voicing their concerns about the party, outside party structures.
He says this will have detrimental effects on the lifeblood of the ANC. Motlanthe delivered the keynote address at a wreath-laying ceremony of the late struggle icon, Andrew Mlangeni and his wife June, at the Roodepoort Cemetery, in Johannesburg, on Sunday.
The ANC leadership honoured an icon Ntate Andrew Mlangeni. The ANC and the June and Andrew Mlangeni Foundation remembered the fallen icon alongside his wife through a wreath-laying ceremony at the Roodepoort Cemetery in Johannesburg, where Mlangeni was laid to rest last year.
If he was still alive he would be celebrating his 96th birthday.
Motlanthe leads the wreath-laying ceremony for late struggle icon:
Wreath-laying ceremony in commemoration of Mama June Mlangeni and Isithwalandwe / Seaparankwe Ntate Andrew Mlangeni at the Roodepoort Cemetery.
The 6th of June would have been Ntate Mlangeni’s 96th birthday. pic.twitter.com/w1WgZ8Bm1t— African National Congress (@MYANC) June 6, 2021
Motlanthe had this to say to ANC members and leaders, whom he says, are airing the organisation’s challenges in the public.
“You can’t be selective about it. You can’t live values when you are in formal meetings. And when you leave formal meetings, you become a free agent because wherever you are, you are the embodiment of the ANC. Whatever you say and do has consequences. That is why it’s a measure of one’s consciousness.”
Former President of the Republic of South Africa & former Deputy President of @MYANC Comrade Kgalema Motlanthe delivers a keynote address at the wreath-laying ceremony in commemoration of Mama June Mlangeni & Isithwalandwe / Seaparankwe Ntate Andrew Mlangeni. pic.twitter.com/DgZr6TYQ48
— African National Congress (@MYANC) June 6, 2021
‘Renewal and self-correction’
The ANC NEC says in honour of the late Mlangeni, renewal and self-correction will continue to take place in the ANC.
“On behalf of the National Executive Committee, we want to thank and appreciate the Mlangeni and Ledwaba family for coming forward to work in partnership with the ANC in celebrating the legacy of Mlangeni under the theme: “Morality, ethics, and renewal”. It actually fits well in this period of 2021 where we have our national team of unity, renewal, and rebuilding in the year of Charlotte Maxeke. What is most important is that here lies a person who has been very selfless and protective of the ANC, who passed on being concerned about the state of the organisation, and in his memory, we do believe that as the NEC we owe it to people like him in ensuring that we bring the NEC together and we self-correct,” says NEC member Nomvula Mokonyane.
June and Andrew Mlangeni Foundation Chairperson, Professor Hlengiwe Mkhize says they are delighted. “We were committed to taking forward his last struggle of dealing with moral issues and especially within his own organisation and also ethical issues and we thought, look we are all in it now, he’s gone, let’s talk openly about these things and difficult topics. And so we are really grateful that Ntate Mlangeni set a tone.”
Mkhize says Mlangeni was against corruption and how it is costing the poor:
The University of South Africa hosted an Inaugural Memorial Lecture for the freedom fighter. It was delivered by Justice and Correctional Services Minister, Ronald Lamola:
