GENEVIEVE QUINTAL: Fickle politicians change tack to win support of electorate
ANC chief whip and SACP general-secretary have suddenly become champions of free expression following the disruptions of the launch of Pieter-Louis Myburgh’s book Gangster State
SA is a land of short memories and reinvention. Just this week South Africans were treated to a master class of how this can be done when ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu and SA Communist Party (SACP) general-secretary Blade Nzimande became champions of free expression. This followed the disruption of the Sandton launch of investigative journalist Pieter-Louis Myburgh’s Ace Magashule exposé, Gangster State. Protesters supporting the ANC secretary-general disrupted the launch, chanting Magashule’s name, singing songs and tearing up a copy of the book. Some were wearing ANC T-shirts and brandishing posters saying “Hands off our SG” and “Stratcom State”. The ANC Youth League in the Free State, the province Magashule ran as his personal fiefdom for almost a decade and that is the subject of Myburgh’s book, also issued a statement saying they would host a book burning ceremony. The governing party put out a statement condemning the disruption and call to burn the book, days after labeling ...
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