The star Online
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
A team of senior ANC members in KwaZulu Natal will investigate who had humiliated President Thabo Mbeki at the reburial service of struggle hero Moses Mabhida in Pietermaritzburg.
The ANC in the Eastern Cape, the SA Communist Party in Limpopo and Limpopo Premier Sello Moloto also condemned the weekend behaviour of some members of the crowd who had cheered for ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma and then jeered Mbeki.
The ANC's KwaZulu Natal secretary-general, Senzo Mchunu, said the team would try to determine if there were people who encouraged the group to jeer and walk out while Mbeki was speaking. However, Mchunu was quick to point out that the latest incident did not mean that the province was off-limits to Mbeki.
Mchunu said Mbeki had been in the province in September and October without any incidents and that Zuma had been at one of those meetings.
But he admitted that problems had been expected in the run-up to Saturday's event and that before the time, meetings to talk about discipline had been held with ANC branches in Pietermaritzburg, while marshals had been deployed among the crowd.
According to Mchunu, the investigating team was a "standing team" which looked into matters as they arose and before issues went to the party's disciplinary committee.
He said the team could possibly request video footage from the media or anyone else who had recorded the incident.
Mchunu added that although it was assumed that those who caused the disruption were Zuma supporters, this - as well as whether they were ANC members or supporters - still had to be confirmed.
But he quickly pointed out that Zuma should not be blamed and the party should instead look at the reasons behind the crowd's behaviour.
On Sunday, ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe said those who had misbehaved would be named and shamed and also barred from gatherings, just like skinheads who disrupted soccer matches in Europe.