The ANC Youth League (ANCYL) has slammed the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK party) founder Jacob Zuma for allegedly attempting to exploit the legacy of ANC freedom fighter and icon, Solomon Mahlangu.
This comes after Zuma’s party held a memorial event in Mahlangu’s honour in Pretoria on Monday. Mahlangu was an operative of the ANC’s armed wing, uMkhonto weSizwe. He was trained in exile but was later hanged by the apartheid government on 6 April 1979.
At the gathering, Zuma told his supporters that his party has the right to commemorate Mahlangu’s life even if he is recognised as an ANC anti-apartheid activist.
“We as soldiers trained this soldier, we worked with him and sent him back home (South Africa) to come fight. He fought and he was captured by the regime. We cannot say this is an ANC person. They (ANC) know that we were with this soldier and we cannot simply forget him because now we are uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party.”
Zuma said there should be no quarrels over the Mahlangu’s legacy since some people in his party knew him well and had served with him in exile. Zuma himself was an MK commander during the apartheid era, serving in the ANC’s underground structures. He was also responsible for recruiting liberation soldiers.
ANCYL president responds to Zuma
But ANCYL president Collen Malatji told The Citizen on Tuesday that Zuma is trying to claim ANC heritage for his party.
“Zuma and that party can hold as many events as they wish, history cannot be stolen, rewritten or changed. Solomon Mahlangu was a soldier of the ANC liberation movement and his legacy is rooted in the struggle traditions of our movement.
“That party (MK party) is a crime scene. It is defined more by chaos, opportunism and serious allegations than by any genuine commitment or values that Mahlangu stood for,” said Malatji.
He said the ANC has preserved Mahlangu’s legacy in various ways.
“It is under ANC-led governments that the memory of Cde Solomon Mahlangu has been preserved and honoured through institutions and programmes bearing his name, including the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College in Tanzania, the Solomon Mahlangu House in Wits and various roads, schools and community projects across the country.
“These are tangible efforts to ensure that future generations know and remember his contribution.
“Our heroes are not available for political recycling by those seeking relevance.”
Confusion
Malatji said Zuma is trying to confuse South Africans about Mahlangu’s legacy.
“The people of South Africa know who carried the struggle, who sacrificed for freedom and who continues to advance the cause of transformation today,” he said.
Past clashes over ANC history
This is not the first time that Zuma’s party has been accused of trying to take the ANC’s heritage. ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula has taken the MK party to court in relation to the name of the party, which he claimed belongs to the original armed wing of the ANC.
Mbalula had also challenged the MK party’s logo, claiming that it was similar to the logo of the disbanded armed wing of the ANC.
Zuma was expelled from the ANC in July 2024 after he formed the MK party while still a member of the ruling party. The former president claims that the ANC is not the same organisation, under its current president Cyril Ramaphosa, that he previously belonged to.
