It's cold outside the charmed ANC circle

THERE is a common intriguing statement frequently uttered by ANC leaders that it is "cold outside the ANC once you have been expelled".

The statement was reinforced recently by Jacob Zuma addressing a dinner at Richards's Bay. Zuma said: "Even people who used to greet you in the streets will not recognise you once you are outside the ANC."

Most card-carrying ANC members are in the cold already, mingling with the rest of society struggling for jobs and the ever- promised mirage of a better life for all.

Many of the members who are in the cold are the ones we see in spontaneous service delivery protests throughout the country trying to dodge police rubber and live bullets that have become a standard response from their elected government.

Some, like Andries Tatane, lose their lives in the process.

Zuma also warned that ANC members who disobey the party will discover just how "unkind" life is once they have been expelled.

Judging from Zuma's utterances, there are two types of ANC members: those who are inside where it is warm, and those who are outside in the cold. One can safely assume that Zuma's warning is meant for the inside comrade like himself and others in the inner circle of the ANC.

ANC members who are "inside", where they are overfed and warm, are threatened that they will join the members who are outside in the cold if they dare rock the fat-cat boat where all the feeding troughs are located.

The comrades inside must know that as in the north of Africa, the time is coming when the fat-cat boat and the feeding troughs will be toppled by the ANC members who are already outside in the "unkind" cold life Zuma talks about.

Don Shongwe, Randburg