A thorn in the ANC's side

SINCE his retirement from active politics, Kader Asmal had been been a thorn in the side of his ANC comrades as well its youth wing.

In 2009 Asmal locked horns with the then deputy minister of police Fikile Mbalula - who called for the police to be turned into a paramilitary force.

"I have this former head of the youth league (Mbalula) who aspires to be secretary general of the ANC. Ha, really, I hope I won't be alive," he told the Cape Town Press Club.

"He said we must militarise the police ... This is a kind of craziness we have to take into account. It is part of that low-level political decision-making without reference to Cabinet."

In response, Mbalula described Asmal as a "latter day Don Quixote whose ravings do nothing for our movement and our country, but rather make us wonder if he is really not doing others' bidding".

"The diatribe Kader Asmal metes out at the leadership of the ANC is nothing more than hot air from a disgruntled individual who refuses to come to terms with reality.

"Heaping insults on our leaders and desperately trying to project the ANC as a conglomeration of imbeciles will not catapult Asmal back to centre stage," Mbalula said.

"I have never harboured ambitions of becoming the next secretary general of the ANC and the ANC has pronounced itself on succession matters and I am part of that collective."

Asmal's last tiff with the ANC-led government was earlier this month when he called for the withdrawal of the controversial Protection of Information Bill.