Young Communist League calls for ceasefire on 'name of Jacob Zuma'

Kingdom Mabuza

Kingdom Mabuza

The chairman of the Young Communist League (YCL), David Masondo, said yesterday that people who did not support the principle that ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma was innocent until proven guilty did not belong to the party.

Masondo, who was speaking in Johannesburg after the league's national congress, said support for Zuma was a principled position taken after his rights were violated.

"We do not have to support Mbeki because he has not been charged and his rights were not violated. Anybody who does not agree with that position does not belong among us," he said.

Masondo said the dissolving of the Gauteng YCL structure and the sacking of national deputy secretary Mazibuko Jara was not because of the dissenting view on support for Zuma.

"There is a tendency of abusing the name of Jacob Zuma. People will fight in shebeens and blame it on Zuma," he said.

Jara had been critical of the league's support for Zuma during his - Zuma's - rape trial.

He said the strong belief that Zuma was a champion of the Left was incorrect.

Secretary-general Buti Manamela said the congress had agreed to intensify the "Friends of Kabelo Campaign".

Manamela said the campaign for calls for the inquest on the assassination of Chris Hani would be intensified.

Masondo said the league had noted the absence of places renamed after white Afrikaners who made a significant contribution to the struggle for liberation.

"Congress called for the renaming of Durban and Cape Town International airports after Moses Mabhida and Bram Fischer," Masondo said.