It was Reverend Makhenkesi Stofile’s tears in his “last days” over the crisis facing the African National Congress (ANC) that prompted Sipho Pityana’s scathing comments about the organisation and its leader‚ Jacob Zuma.
Pityana‚ a former foreign affairs director-general‚ had asked the more than 10 000 mourners to use Stofile’s funeral on Thursday as a turning point in ridding the ANC of all bad tendencies such as corruption and nepotism‚ so that the ruling party could return to its former glory.
He also said that‚ if the president had been there‚ he would have pleaded with him to resign.
Zuma had been scheduled to deliver the eulogy‚ but handed those duties to his deputy‚ Cyril Ramaphosa‚ and on Thursday left for Kenya for a conference.
Zuma has no powers to stop investigations into Pravin Gordhan: Presidency
“I very quiet cadre for many years‚” Pityana told talk radio station 702’s John Robbie on Friday morning‚ before adding that he could no longer hold his silence as he was “pained by what we are going through” as a party and a country.
Pityana said he had been invited by the family to use his tribute at the funeral to reflect on the time he spent with Stofile following his return from a posting as ambassador to Germany.
He told 702 that he had seen Stofile at the time that he “was going through his last days in life under a very aggressive cancer” and “this last time…he cried and cried bitterly about what is going on”.
Pityana was saddened at the sight of a man “who should be fighting to defend his life under very difficult health conditions worrying about the state of the organisation and worrying about the state of the country”‚ and said it “really does invoke in one a sense of responsibility that unless those of us who love this country‚ those who love the ANC‚ get up and do something”.
On Friday‚ he also raised Thursday’ standoff between Pravin Gordhan and the Hawks over its probe into an alleged South African Revenue Service rogue spy unit‚ calling a it a “pure and unmitigated harassment” of the finance minister.
Pityana at Thursday’s funeral had recalled the court defeat in the Nkandla saga to criticise Zuma‚ saying: “When the Constitutional Court makes a finding that you broke your oath of office. What it means is that you are honourable no longer. What it means is that you are untrustworthy.
“The next battle cannot be led by a leader that has humiliated our organisation and undermined everything that we represent.”
Pityana pointed out that when Stofile was accused of corruption‚ he didn’t play avoidance games or abuse state institutions to block the inquiry‚ but submitted himself to public scrutiny. When it didn’t find in his favour‚ he didn’t cast aspersions but took the matter on judicial review and cleared his name.
Stofile‚ who had also served as a sports minister and Eastern Cape premier‚ died at his home in Alice last Monday.
WATCH: ANC Stalwart Sipho Pityana takes aim at the President
— TMG Digital
'Stofile cried bitterly about ANC in his last days' - Pityana explains attack on Zuma
It was Reverend Makhenkesi Stofile’s tears in his “last days” over the crisis facing the African National Congress (ANC) that prompted Sipho Pityana’s scathing comments about the organisation and its leader‚ Jacob Zuma.
Pityana‚ a former foreign affairs director-general‚ had asked the more than 10 000 mourners to use Stofile’s funeral on Thursday as a turning point in ridding the ANC of all bad tendencies such as corruption and nepotism‚ so that the ruling party could return to its former glory.
He also said that‚ if the president had been there‚ he would have pleaded with him to resign.
Zuma had been scheduled to deliver the eulogy‚ but handed those duties to his deputy‚ Cyril Ramaphosa‚ and on Thursday left for Kenya for a conference.
Zuma has no powers to stop investigations into Pravin Gordhan: Presidency
“I very quiet cadre for many years‚” Pityana told talk radio station 702’s John Robbie on Friday morning‚ before adding that he could no longer hold his silence as he was “pained by what we are going through” as a party and a country.
Pityana said he had been invited by the family to use his tribute at the funeral to reflect on the time he spent with Stofile following his return from a posting as ambassador to Germany.
He told 702 that he had seen Stofile at the time that he “was going through his last days in life under a very aggressive cancer” and “this last time…he cried and cried bitterly about what is going on”.
Pityana was saddened at the sight of a man “who should be fighting to defend his life under very difficult health conditions worrying about the state of the organisation and worrying about the state of the country”‚ and said it “really does invoke in one a sense of responsibility that unless those of us who love this country‚ those who love the ANC‚ get up and do something”.
On Friday‚ he also raised Thursday’ standoff between Pravin Gordhan and the Hawks over its probe into an alleged South African Revenue Service rogue spy unit‚ calling a it a “pure and unmitigated harassment” of the finance minister.
Pityana at Thursday’s funeral had recalled the court defeat in the Nkandla saga to criticise Zuma‚ saying: “When the Constitutional Court makes a finding that you broke your oath of office. What it means is that you are honourable no longer. What it means is that you are untrustworthy.
“The next battle cannot be led by a leader that has humiliated our organisation and undermined everything that we represent.”
Pityana pointed out that when Stofile was accused of corruption‚ he didn’t play avoidance games or abuse state institutions to block the inquiry‚ but submitted himself to public scrutiny. When it didn’t find in his favour‚ he didn’t cast aspersions but took the matter on judicial review and cleared his name.
Stofile‚ who had also served as a sports minister and Eastern Cape premier‚ died at his home in Alice last Monday.
WATCH: ANC Stalwart Sipho Pityana takes aim at the President
— TMG Digital
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