COSATU Media Monitor, 18 December 2009

Pick n Pay's chairman Raymond Ackerman is "outraged" at what he called the "appalling accusation" by the SA Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers' Union (Saccawu) of racism in the company.

In a statement on Thursday, Ackerman said Pick n Pay's history over 43 years spoke for itself.

"Both the company and I suffered significant abuse at the hands of former politicians for our stand on human rights for black South Africans.

"We were harassed for our decision to violate the Job Reservation Act and promote black South Africans to positions they had earned in Pick n Pay," he said.

Last week Saccawu members at Pick n Pay embarked on a one day strike, accusing the company's CEO Nick Badminton of racism.

"They have provided no evidence to their blanket accusations.

"They have made vague references to a comment that was allegedly made by our CEO, according to them over a decade ago," Ackerman said.

He added that Saccawu had not explained why it had taken ten years to raise the complaint.

"Our CEO, Nick Badminton, has stated clearly and without any hesitation whatsoever that he said no such thing.

"In short, it's utter nonsense."

As to Saccawu's other allegations, when the union raised a list of unspecific issues with Pick n Pay, it offered to create a Commission of Enquiry -- "not once but four separate times", Ackerman said.

"They rejected this offer each time.

"We have done our part and offered to try and resolve whatever problems they said they were having.

"In rejecting our offer, they clearly have no real interest in resolving this and this is borne out by comments made by the union."

He said during last week's strike Saccawu had handed a memorandum to the company's human resources director, Isaac Motaung, "who ironically started his career at Pick n Pay as a trolley porter".

Ackerman acknowledged that Pick n Pay was not "perfect".

"We have over 39,000 employees. There are going to be times when someone, somewhere, behaves less than perfectly.

"We accept this and of course rectify whatever requires attention immediately it is brought to our attention and the proper procedures are followed in accordance with the law."

He said that over the years Pick n Pay had worked hard to earn not only the respect of its customers but also the respect of its employees.

"We are not simply going to accept what the union has done." he added.

Ackerman said he was entering his last three months as chairman of Pick n Pay.

"We have in the past and will continue to work diligently against any form of racism.

"But we will not tolerate this abuse and deliberate action on their [Saccawu's] part to damage our reputation and weaken our resolve."

Saccawu could not be immediately reached for comment. - Sapa

1.2 NUM honours dead miners

Eyewitness News , 17 December 2007

The National Union of Mineworkers said around 13 000 employees at Goldfield’s Driefontein Mine on the West Rand were observing a day of mourning on Thursday.

They downed tools for 24 hours, following the death of two mine workers last week.

The pair died in an accident caused by seismic activity.

“This is part of our tradition. Every time mineworkers lose their lives in the mines, we will observe a day of mourning and we will ensure that the big capitalists lose what is due to them because we continue to lose human lives in this industry,” said NUM’s Lesiba Seshoka.

Meanwhile, the union has commended police on their arrest of 97 illegal miners in Barberton in Mpumalanga.

Twenty-one of those who were arrested are teenagers.

Earlier this year, the bodies of several miners were pulled out of the same mine.

2. South Africa

2.1 Vavi defends the alliance

Mandy Wiener , Eye Witness News, 18 December 2009

Cosatu on Thursday dismissed allegations that the communist party was planning to seize control of the African National Congress in 2012, as scandal mongering.

It spoke out against what it believed to be a small clique in the tripartite alliance which was attempting to destabilise it.

This was in the wake of a deepening rift developing between the ANC Youth League and the South African Communist Party.

Cosatu General Secretary Zwelenzima Vavi said a small clique in the ruling alliance had problematically opened a leadership debate three years ahead of the ANC’s 2012 conference.

“They are using anti-Cosatu and anti-communist rhetoric,” said Vavi.

Vavi would not name names but the ANC Youth League did release a statement earlier this week attacking the SACP for its leadership ambitions.

Despite evidence of deepening rifts, Vavi was defiant.

“There are no cracks in the alliance, not at all,” said Vavi.

He said there were differences between personalities not organisations.

2.2 SACP 2012 hostile ANC takeover untrue: Vavi

Times Live, 18 December 2009

Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi dismissed as "scandal-mongering" allegations that the South African Communist Party is planning to seize control of the ANC at its 2012 conference.

"They are using rooi gevaar and anti-Cosatu and anti-Communist rhetoric, and allegations of an imminent take-over of the ANC," he said at a year-end media briefing at the union's Johannesburg offices.

"They have problematically opened a leadership debate three years ahead of the conference. They do not care what this will cause in terms of the unity and cohesion of the ANC and the (tripartite) alliance."

He said those spreading such rumours would stop at nothing including using the race card and tribalism. "It is now evident that the working class has a formidable task of defending the gains of Polokwane and making sure that government and the revolutionary movement are not derailed by a minority in the leadership, who are small in number but with powerful friends in the boardrooms of big business, who want to return to the past," said Vavi.

He noted that there were no cracks in the tripartite alliance, just people who were "overly ambitious".

"These elements accuse President Jacob Zuma of allowing too much ground to the communists and Cosatu, and leak reports to the media that there may be challenges to leading office-bearers ...in 2012. They wrongly accuse the alliance partners of wanting to impose socialism on the ANC," he added.

Vavi said those spreading the rumours were a "small clique" seeking personal gain. "All this is done by this small clique who claim they are defending the ANC from its own sons and daughters but who happen to have a Cosatu and SACP membership.

"If there is anyone to be accused of hijacking the ANC, it will be the new tendency that has little interest in taking forward the ANC election manifesto but who want positions for personal accumulation."

2.3 COSATU blames alliance leaders for SACP-youth league rift

Mandy Wiener, Eye Witness News, 17 December 2009

A small minority within the leadership of the Tripartite Alliance is trying to destabilise the movement, trade union federation COSATU said on Thursday.

It maintains the alliance is totally united around the policies of the African National Congress.

The last week has seen a deepening rift come to light, with the ANC Youth League clashing with the SACP and the Young Communist League.

COSATU’s General Secretary Zwelenzima Vavi has condemned the personal insults and mudslinging.

“No matter how angry comrades can be against one another, there are limits. COSATU encourages and thrives on honest, robust, public policy debates but we condemn the use of insults and the questioning of each other’s bona fides,” he said.

The public spat stems from SACP boss Jeremy Cronin’s criticism of calls from ANCYL President Julius Malema to nationalise the country’s mines.

Malema reacted to the criticism by calling Cronin a "white messiah".

The young politician was heckled and booed when he spoke at the SACP’s congress in Polokwane last week.

The ANC has indicated that both Malema and Cronin, who are ANC National Executive Committee members, could face disciplinary action.

2.4 Cosatu blames ‘business-aligned’ youth for fallout
WILSON JOHWA, Business Day, 18 December 2009

THE Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) yesterday blamed business- aligned youth for the latest rift in the tripartite alliance.

This comes weeks after Cosatu pledged to assist the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League to make a case for its controversial stand on nationalisation.

While Cosatu was careful not to mention the youth league by name, its veiled attack dealt a blow to the league’s attempt to keep Cosatu out of its tiff with the South African Communist Party (SACP).

“They are campaigning to end a long culture of dual membership and are accusing certain members and leaders of so-called double parking to try to discredit Cosatu and the SACP,” Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said yesterday.

On Monday, the youth league said its president, Julius Malema, was booed last week at the SACP conference because it did not support SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande’s ambition to become the next ANC deputy president in 2012. Nor would the league back a second term for ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, who is also SACP chairman.

Vavi ascribed the tension to the resurgence of an old “tendency”, dating back a decade, to bash communists in the alliance while not tolerating dissenting views. “It’s an old tendency which thrived on rumour-mongering, scare- mongering, commie-under- the-bed, takeover allegations, questioning bona fides, marginalising the alliance … it’s an old thing.”

Vavi said the anticommunist phenomenon was put on hold in 2007 as some of its proponents had co-operated in the ousting of former president Thabo Mbeki at the ANC’s Polokwane conference. “But you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, so they just went (back) to their old tricks.” Efforts to weaken the alliance would not succeed, Vavi said.

The SACP again weighed in on the issue yesterday, saying there had been no apology “or even the vaguest hint of self-reflection” over the tussle at its congress.

Referring to Malema’s defiant comments on Tuesday, it said there had been an open disregard of Zuma’s call for calm.

Vavi was at pains to explain that the alliance was united and as strong as ever.

He warned against a minority in the leadership “with powerful friends in the boardrooms of big business”.

Last week, Nzimande warned of anticommunist efforts by small factions within the ANC and the emergence of a new “class axis

Continued on page 2 Row ‘to resurface’: page 2

between sections of business and marginalised, alienated and unemployed black youth”.

Cosatu would call for an urgent meeting of the alliance.

Cosatu president S’dumo Dlamini said the labour federation was disturbed by the personal attacks but would raise matters privately with its partners. “We are going to be frank and tell each other what we need to tell each other…. We are taking a stand, this has got to stop.”

Vavi said Cosatu viewed discussion of succession in the ANC as premature as it would destroy the unity of the alliance and distract from the “real” issues.

In his review of the year, Vavi praised the “willingness and openness” of the Zuma administration, saying it was a “breath of fresh air” and had opened space for democratic and mature discussion.

While Cosatu had led a campaign to prevent Trevor Manuel from being the minister who made economic policy, Vavi said Cosatu applauded the balanced Cabinet, which reflected the “spirit and themes” of Polokwane.

Vavi predicted that job losses, which were close to a million this year, would continue next year, “even in the face of improvements in the growth of the economy”.

He said among Cosatu’s biggest challenges would be leading the debate on a new path for economic growth.

Cosatu hoped the long-awaited industrial policy plan from the Department of Trade and Industry would feed into the discussion on a developmental state.

“At this stage we are absolutely convinced that even if we were going to win the fiscal and monetary policy discussions — which I think we will win eventually — we cannot go far enough without addressing the structural crisis in the economy,” Vavi said.

Cosatu was still pushing for a ban on labour broking and would call a strike if necessary. Vavi said if there was no solution by October, members’ demands for “a big push” for a ban “would not find a reluctant leadership”.

2.5 It is time for the ANC and SACP to part

Jack Mokobi, Sowetan, 18 December 2009

PUBLIC spats between leaders of the alliance occurred recently in relation to what economic policy direction the Jacob Zuma government should take.

Billy Masetlha in a recent Mail & Guardian interview bemoaned the dominance of communists in government and Parliament, saying “the ANC was never a socialist organisation” and that there is a need to “protect it from being taken over by communists”.

A spirited rejoinder followed from the Young Communist League, saying Masetlha wanted to take the alliance back to the pre-Polokwane era. Julius Malema recently said on SABC TV that “the ANC Youth League would never allow communists to take it over”. Many alliance leaders have since 1994 spoken about how the alliance was more important now than ever before.

Historical reasons for the formation of the alliance between the ANC, SACP and the then South African Congress of Trade Unions, now Cosatu, and South African National Civic Organisation, are no longer relevant after the transition from apartheid to democracy.

An 1989 SACP document, titled The Communist Party fight for Freedom, quotes the African Communist (No 87, fourth quarter 1991: Two Pillars of our struggle) as saying: “The ANC is a mass movement fighting for national liberation. The SACP is a Marxist-Leninist party fighting for socialism.

“There can be democracy without socialism, but there can be no socialism without democracy. When South African people opt for socialism they will do so on their own free will, not because they were ordered to do so by the SACP.”

Clearly parties in the alliance had different ideologies. The common enemy was the apartheid government that subjugated the majority and denied them their democratic rights. The common goal was the defeat of apartheid and creation of a democratic state.

So the SACP , not the ANC, pursued socialism and communism, but it had to join forces with allies to attain democracy first and socialism later.

An SACP seminal document: The Path To Power, adopted in 1989, says under the heading The National Democratic Revolution and the Transition to Socialism that “victory in the national democratic revolution is, for our working class, the most direct route to socialism and ultimately communism.

The existence in South Africa of the material conditions for socialism, the relatively advanced technical level and a strong working class and the achievement of the national democratic revolution, will not in themselves guarantee an advance to socialism.

To create conditions for such an advance, the working class will have to ensure that the national democratic tasks are carried out. The working class must win for itself a dominant role in the new government and see to it that the character of the democratic state accords with the genuine interests of the people.”

No wonder we have a dominance of unionists and communists in the leadership of the ANC and Parliament, which rubs non-communists like Masetlha up the wrong way. This is part of the programme of the SACP as envisaged at their seventh congress in 1989.

The question becomes: Does the SACP want the ANC to help it build socialism and communism ? Is it not now the time, post the national democratic revolution, that the SACP independently promotes socialism and communism to the electorate and not impose it on the ANC and the nation in the name of the alliance?

The alliance at its inception was a tactical one, not meant to last beyond the attainment of the democratic state.

2.6 Last word on her lips: ANC

By Political Bureau and BARRY BATEMAN, IOL, 18 December 2009

THE PRESIDENCY is finalising plans for a special official funeral for former health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who died on Wednesday of complications from the liver transplant she underwent two years ago.

Presidency spokesman Vusi Mona told Independent Newspapers yesterday that President Jacob Zuma had "made it clear" that he wanted to honour Tshabalala-Msimang, 69, in this way.

Her family had agreed, Mona said.

The controversial former health minister died on Wednesday of complications associated with a 2007 liver transplant.

She was to have undergone a second transplant, but an organ was not available.

Mona said no date had been finalised for Tshabalala-Msimang's funeral, but it was expected to take place next week.
It would involve the military as well as police, and flags would be flown at half mast.

Former cabinet ministers did not automatically qualify for official funerals, but there was a provision for the president to make a decision to honour a person in this way, a government official said.

Official funerals fall into a separate category from state funerals, which are reserved for presidents, their deputies, former presidents and deputy presidents and anybody the president believes deserves one by virtue of "extraordinary credentials".

Mona said Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe - who is acting head of state while Zuma is at the climate change summit in Copenhagen - was dealing with the paperwork. Funeral arrangements are expected to be announced today, by adviser to the president Charles Nqakula and family spokesman Martin Kingston, in Pretoria.

Yesterday the home of the late former health minister was a hive of activity as friends and colleagues paid their respects.

Among the guests were Motlanthe, former president Thabo Mbeki, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi and Speaker of Parliament Max Sisulu.

Mourners, who started arriving at about 8am, were welcomed by former health director-general Thami Mseleku.

Of all the comrades paying their respects to the family it was former president Thabo Mbeki who visited the longest.

He was embraced by the family of his former ally and welcomed into the Waterkloof Ridge home where he spent more than an hour. After the visit Mbeki told the media that the news of her death had come as a shock to him.

"I was in Sudan. I got the news while in Khartoum. It was unexpected. I knew she was not well, but there was nothing to suggest that she was so unwell," he said.

Mbeki said he had been a friend and comrade for more than four decades.

"It is indeed a very bad loss. We worked together at home, then while in exile, and when we came back. She was a person committed to changing the lives of people for the better in a selfless way. She did not want to be seen as a prominent player. Her departure leaves a gap for us, our generation.

"We know what kind of person she was and what commitment she had to creating better lives.

"As a country and a nation we should give Manto a proper farewell. We owe her a lot," he said.

While saying goodbye to the family, Kingston, Tshabalala-Msimang's son-in-law, held the former statesman's hand tightly.

"I regret that I was not here," Mbeki said. "I could have seen her in the last few days.

"Anyway, it has happened."

Motlanthe told the media, after spending about an hour with the bereaved family, that he was saddened by the death of Tshabalala-Msimang and that her passing was a great loss to the country.

Motlanthe, who arrived with Jessie Duarte, chief operating officer in the Presidency, said Tshabalala-Msimang had been committed to serving South Africans.

"Right up until her death, we are told she was talking about the ANC, into her darkest hour.

"She was a dedicated person; in the liberation of the country and right up to her last days she was a member of Parliament.

"She left the country when she was young and she did not slow down at all. Her death is a great loss to all. Our hearts go out to her family, children and grandchildren."

Motsoaledi expressed his condolences to the family

"I told the family that her death is a loss to the whole country. I served well with her after Polokwane in the health committee (of the ANC). She was a tireless freedom fighter, a comrade," he said.

Tshwane acting mayor Dikeledi Lehobye expressed condolences on behalf of the capital city.

"I am touched and saddened by the passing on of this gallant daughter of the soil," she said.

Former minister in the presidency Essop Pahad said he had known the former health minister for more than 40 years.

"She was always a close friend and comrade. I am very sad. We will miss her.

"People must recognise her contribution. She was working in the Mkhonto we Sizwe camps as a doctor under difficult situations and she fought hard for national health.

"She was deeply committed to the public health system," he said.

Questioned on his last thoughts of his friend, Pahad said: "At our age, all thoughts are our last thoughts."

As funeral arrangements were being finalised, conflicting messages and tributes about her role in the Aids pandemic continued to pour in.

While her political colleagues and trade unions lauded her for the sacrifices she had made for South Africa, and her tireless efforts to improve the public health sector, the international media and the Anglican church berated her for her Aids policies.

"Let us use the death of Dr Tshabalala-Msimang as a milestone on our journey, a signpost towards a future with an Aids-free South Africa," said Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba.

It was with an aching heart and deep regret that he recalled the HIV/Aids policies the former health minister pursued.

"We also honour the countless thousands who in consequence died during this time, and stand in solidarity alongside those who grieve their all too often untimely loss," Makgoba said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the PAC's Youth League and former deputy health minister Renier Schoeman called on 5fm DJ Gareth Cliff to apologise for his "vicious" remarks about Tshabalala-Msimang.

"Mr Cliff owes her husband, children, family, friends and colleagues, and in fact the whole South Africa, an unconditional apology for what he said," Schoeman said.

According to media reports earlier yesterday, Cliff sparked the ire of many people on social networking site Twitter with his comment: "Manto is dead. Good. A selfish and wicked bungler of the lowest order.

"Rotten attitude and rancid livers - all three of them."

Seconds later, fuming bloggers posted messages attacking Cliff's "disrespect for the dead" and defending Tshabalala-Msimang.

But international newspapers noted the number of infections and deaths recorded during her tenure as minister.

The New York Times said the estimated number of HIV-infected people in South Africa "climbed to more than 5 million, more than in any other nation".

The Los Angeles Times said her "Aids denial" and failure to provide treatment had been blamed for more than 300 000 unnecessary deaths..

The British Telegraph said she and former president Thabo Mbeki bore "key responsibility" for the government's delaying for years the distribution of antiretroviral drugs.

The BBC recalled her "Dr Beetroot" tag and also cited the figure of 300 000 deaths, drawn from a Harvard University study.

2.7 DJ blasted for saying good riddance to Manto
Zinhle Mapumulo, Sowetan, 18 December 2009


THE ANC Youth League has demanded that 5fm DJ Gareth Cliff apologise publicly for saying that former health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s passing was a matter of good riddance. Cliff, who presents the breakfast show on the SABC radio station, posted a comment on the social network site Twitter just moments after the announcement of Tshabalala- Msimang’s death on Wednesday. It read, “Manto is dead. Good. A selfish and wicked bungler of the lowest order. Rotten attitude and rancid livers – all three of them.” His comments have sparked a public furore. The youth league came out with guns blazing, demanding that Cliff apologise “for speaking ill of the dead”. The league’s spokesperson, Magdeline Moonsamy, said: “The ANCYL receives with disgust and shock the vulgar utterances of Cliff – in response to the passing of Comrade Tshabalala-Msimang. “The comments are viewed as an undignified and hateful onslaught on a great contributor to democracy in South Africa and beyond. “It is so unfortunate that this representative of the South African media displays such vulgarity at a time of bereavement and great loss to the nation. These actions certainly undermine freedom of expression and abuses the gains of our democracy. “We demand an unequivocal apology from Cliff to the family, friends, and people of South Africa.” Cliff is known for his controversial opinions but his Twitter followers appeared to be un impressed with this latest outburst. The national broadcaster said it was not taking any immediate action against Cliff because his views were expressed on a private platform – and not on public radio. “We are, however, going to look at the comments and then decide if action will be taken against him,” said SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago.

2.8 Introduce NHI for Manto: Numsa

Sunday Independent, 17 December 2009

A fitting tribute to former health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang would be the speedy introduction of national health insurance, the National Union of Metalworkers said on Thursday.

"This is the befitting tribute that our movement can honour Comrade Tshabalala-Msimang for her dedication, sacrifices and commitments to the struggle of the oppressed," a statement read.

They also sent condolences to the family of Tshabalala-Msimang, who died in Johannesburg on Wednesday. - Sapa

2.9 Mantashe urges ANC to ‘get serious’ as poll nears

Patrick Cull, POLITICAL EDITOR, The Herald, 18 December 2009

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe yesterday became the second senior official in two days to allude to the challenges the party faces in the 2011 local government elections.

Addressing the party’s Eastern Cape provincial general council, Mantashe said it had polled 50,14% of the vote in the April general election and there was a need to analyse the situation “ward by ward” in each municipality and start to work now for 2011.

On Wednesday, provincial chairman Phumulo Masualle told delegates: “This is the home of the ANC and we must put our heads together.”

Speaking to media later, Mantashe played down the threat in Nelson Mandela Bay, saying he did not believe the ANC was “facing a challenge particularly” in the city, but had to take its work seriously. Port Elizabeth was the “home of the ANC”, it had the majority, and “you build from there”.

Turning to the issue of the divisions within the ANC, Mantashe said one of the party’s objectives was to unite all the country’s people, “but if we are not united, what moral authority do we have to unite others?” The party was “reneging on our responsibility to unite the people of South Africa”.

Mantashe also criticised those who were “preoccupied” with excluding other members of the ANC from legitimate activities. There was “something fundamentally wrong” in this.

On challenges facing the alliance following the spat between ANC Youth League president Julius Malema and SACP deputy secretary-general Jeremy Cronin, he said the alliance was “bigger than individuals”.

If there were issues, they would be raised between its components “and not me”.

He acknowledged that “spats through the media does not help”, adding: “If we are happy to attack one another and the ANC does not matter, then there is something wrong.”

He said the unity of the alliance had been far better in the past two years than it had been in the previous 10 when Thabo Mbeki led the ANC.

The SACP chairman said he was a communist, “but I am not a communist member of the ANC, I am a member of the ANC. That I am a communist is neither here nor there”.

Alliance members were independent partners able to influence one another and were prepared to be influenced.

On corruption, Mantashe said if that people wished to be involved in business, “let us do clean business and not just defraud the state”. The battle against corruption was “a fight we must take up as cadres of the movement wherever we are”.

2.10 Don't worry: more from Malema next year

By NKULULEKO NCANA and DOMINIC MAHLANGU, 17 December 2009

He shot to fame and headlines during the anarchic ANC Youth League national conference in Mangaung in 2007, at which league members dropped their trousers and maintained that this constituted a declaration of their support for him.

The country waited to see what the newly elected president of the youth league had to offer our politics. It found out when he said: "Let us make it clear now: we are prepared to die for Zuma. Not only that, we are prepared to take up arms and kill for Zuma."

South Africa was introduced to Julius Who-would-be-Caesar Malema.

Never failing to make headlines, Malema charged on to the political scene and made the league's intentions clear - it wanted Jacob Zuma in the very best office at the Union Buildings.

Anyone who sought to distract the fiery youth league from its programme was met with blistering attacks.

First in the firing line was former president Thabo Mbeki who, Malema vowed, would be made to quit as head of state because of his role in the "persecution" of Zuma. The youth league and the ANC alliance partners blamed Mbeki for using state resources against Zuma and for trying to paint the ruling party's president as crooked.

Later, after Pietermaritzburg Judge Chris Nicholson threw out the corruption charges against Zuma, and fuelled speculation that Mbeki had had a hand in Zuma being charged , the ANC national executive committee ordered Mbeki to quit the presidency .

When students at the Tshwane University of Technology called on Malema to resolve their disputes with the education department, the youth league firebrand clobbered then education minister Naledi Pandor: "Let the minister use that fake accent to address our problems and not to behave like a spoilt minister. We need a minister who can take action, especially now.

"You can't act against the majority. Workers everywhere are in the majority, the youth of South Africa are in the majority. Acting against the youth and the workers, you are acting against the people who brought down the apartheid regime."

When the Congress of the People split from the ANC after Mbeki's axing, Malema had a go at the party's co-founder and deputy president, Mbhazima Shilowa.

During a ceremony at the University of Limpopo, at which Malema gave Shilowa's son, Marvin, a bursary, he demeaned the former Gauteng premier.

"The ANC changes lives. It can change you from a hobo into someone very important.

"This ANC has taught those who are insulting it today to use a fork and knife, to taste red wine, to wear expensive suits and to swop red socks for many other [colours]," he said.

Under Malema's leadership, the ANC Youth League recently called for the nationalisation of the mines - a call criticised by opposition parties, including an ANC alliance partner, the SA Communist Party.

The spat between Malema and SACP leaders took a different shape when Malema was booed at a special SACP congress last week.

Malema, at the centre of the battle for the soul of the ANC, is expected to intensify his charges against his critics in the SACP and against those he believes are plotting to take over the ruling party.

2.11 Long road from Nkandla to power

By DOMINIC MAHLANGUand NKULULEKO NCANA, Times Live, 17 December 2009

Jacob Zuma's amazing fall and rise ushered in a new era

Only two weeks after the Durban High Court found Shabir Shaik guilty in 2005 of fraud and corruption, his friend, Deputy President Jacob Zuma, was booted out of the government, setting him off on a long road to regain his political stature in the ANC and with the public.

Zuma, a trusted comrade who served with conviction in the ANC underground during the dark days of apartheid, was fired by his confidant, President Thabo Mbeki.

Mbeki said at the time: "I have come to the conclusion that the circumstances dictate that, in the interest of the honorable deputy president, the government, our young democratic system and our country, it would be best to release the honourable Jacob Zuma from his responsibilities as deputy president of the republic and member of the Cabinet."

While he was trying to stomach his departure from office, the national prosecuting authority fired a broadside and charged him with corruption.

In December of that year, Zuma, who was trying to fight the corruption charges, was charged with the rape of a family friend. The news shattered Zuma's support and his standing in the ANC.

His sex life was laid bare in court as he testified that he had had "consensual" intercourse without using a condom.

Political analysts, including some in the ANC, believed at the time that Zuma's political career had run its course.

They said he would never again hold a significant position either in the ANC or in the government, but events generated by the decision to fire Zuma proved otherwise.

Trade union federation Cosatu came out strongly against what it believed was a conspiracy against Zuma and vowed that it would support him to the end.

Zuma's supporters blasted Mbeki and accused him of using state resources to orchestrate a conspiracy that would portray Zuma as a corrupt politician.

The battle lines were drawn and the ANC was split down the middle. Zuma supporters declared that a change of guard was needed because the ANC leadership had become dictatorial, leaving no room for debate.

Alliance partners were sidelined and those who disagreed with the ruling faction were silenced.

The battle for the soul of the ANC would play itself out at the ruling party's watershed 52nd national conference, in Polokwane in 2007.

With the help of the ANC Youth League, under its then president, Fikile Mbalula, Zuma defeated Mbeki, who had aspirations of running the party for a third term. The youth league declared itself to be the king-maker.

Zuma's victory eventually led to the demise of Mbeki who, less than a year later, was forced to resign the national presidency.

The irony was clear.

Mbeki's ousting angered his supporters, who "served divorce papers" on the ANC under Zuma to form a break-away party - the Congress of the People - which was to be led by Zuma's staunchest critic, former ruling party chairman Mosiuoa Lekota.

With the ANC firmly in his control, Zuma and his supporters went into the 2009 national elections with vigour.

When acting national prosecutions authority boss Mokotedi Mpshe withdrew charges against Zuma on the grounds that there had been political interference in the case by former Scorpions head Leonard McCarthy and former NPA leader Bulelani Ngcuka - after a tape recording suggested that they were conspiring against Zuma - the path was cleared for the ANC president to rise to power.

The ANC's alliance partners and the ANCYL president made it clear that Zuma would be "sprinting to the Union Buildings".

And when DA leader Helen Zille went on the offensive with her "Stop Zuma" campaign, Malema labelled her a "fake racist girl".

In May this year, the man from rural Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal, was sworn in as President of the Republic, marking a new chapter in the politics of South Africa and the ANC.