Concerned stalwarts of the ANC should be wary of accepting an invitation to meet with members of the party’s national working committee (NWC), says Rivonia trialist Denis Goldberg.

“If we do accept, then we should not resile from our political position,” the stalwart writes in a letter to 124 ANC veterans.

The group, which has banded together over developments in the ruling party, has been calling for a consultative conference in the hope that it will change the trajectory of the political party.

“We cannot permit people we do not trust to draw us into giving them time to wriggle out from under the cloud of disrepute and distrust they have created,” he wrote.

ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe told journalists on Tuesday, following an NWC meeting, that the party would meet with the stalwarts once a date had been determined.

The 83-year-old Goldberg said his peers should only meet with the current ANC leadership to deliver a message to both the president and his top six.

“We must not be dragged into a drawn-out discussion and side-tracked by appeals to unity with a bunch of people who have no understanding of the meaning of unity.”

Not worth being called comrades

The stalwart said he had reached a point where he could no longer call some in the ANC his comrades, accusing them of uncomradely behaviour.

“They are just ‘Mr’ or ‘Ms’ or just plain ‘you’,” wrote Goldberg.

Goldberg, who was once on the ANC’s integrity committee, accused Mantashe of passing the buck when it came to whether or not the elders should have investigated President Jacob Zuma. He claims comments made by the secretary general of the ANC against the integrity committee over the matter were disingenuous as Mantashe’s role is to refer matters and approve investigations undertaken by the committee.

“You have failed to stop the rot. You should go,” is what he said should be communicated to both Zuma and Mantashe.

Goldberg was one of the few who had been hoping that ANC members of Parliament would vote with their consciences as opposed to toeing the party line on a vote of no confidence against Zuma on Thursday, but the party used its majority to shut down the motion.

[Source: news24]