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South African News Updates |
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26 May 2009 The MK Military Veterans' Association
is to march on Helen Zille's office on Wednesday
morning to demand that she apologise to President
Jacob Zuma, an MKMVA spokesperson said on Tuesday.
National organiser Fatty Booi said the association had
secured authorities' permission for the march, which
would start in District Six and make its way through
the Cape Town city centre to Zille's office in Wale
Street.
The MKMVA had been denied permission for a planned
march last week, he said.
"The purpose of our march is quite clear," he said.
"Zille ha[s] undermined the highest office in the
country, because whatever she said about President
Jacob Zuma , it was okay before the elections, but now
that president has been elected into the highest
office by the people of South Africa, and they see him
as a role model."
Booi was referring to Democratic Alliance leader
and Western Cape premier Zille's recent statement that
Zuma put his wives at risk of contracting HIV when he
had unprotected sex with an infected woman.
This statement had undermined the Constitution that
the veterans had fought for, Booi said.
He said her appointment of males only to her
provincial executive committee also showed disrespect
for the constitutional imperative of gender equality.
The marchers would be demanding that she "dismantle
that man-dominated cabinet of hers".
Zille had stood for premier because she was an
attention-seeker, he said.
"On Wednesday we are coming to give her the attention
she wants, but in a very different way. She will never
want us at her office again," he said.
Zuma, Zille chat away
ANC military veterans want Western Cape Premier
Helen Zille to stand up at the cabinet lekgotla on
Tuesday and apologise to President Jacob Zuma, but the
DA leader said she had a "relaxed and professional"
chat with the president on Tuesday.
The uMkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA)
chairman Kebby Maphatsoe also wants Zille to retract
her widely publicised comments about Zuma's sexual
life after a two-week war of words between the DA
leader and ANC Youth League.
But Zille, who pointed out that she had a telephone
conversation with Zuma on Tuesday in anticipation of
the lekgotla, said she would not respond to Maphatsoe
for fear of the response being labelled "mudslinging"
or "tit-for-tat".
She said she was expecting the lekgotla - a meeting
of the national executive, premiers, executive mayors
and directors-general to map out government's plan of
action - to be interesting.
"I will learn quite a lot and speak when and where
appropriate.
"I'm not expecting to be cold-shouldered although I do
not expect to be embraced either. I expect to be
treated professionally, just as I will treat other
people," she said on Monday.
Zille will meet Zuma for the first time since the ugly
spat. The exchanges were fuelled by the ANC Youth
League hurling sexual expletives against the DA
leader.
The tiff was triggered by Zille's reaction to
criticism about her all-male cabinet, reminding her
critics that Zuma was a womaniser who put his wives at
risk by sleeping with an HIV-positive woman.
But ANC Youth League spokesperson Floyd Shivambu said
he did not expect Zuma to be "petty" in his dealings
with Zille at the lekgotla.
He said Zuma had previously shown maturity when faced
with similar situations, including the time when he
met Cope leader Mosiuoa Lekota at the elections centre
in Tshwane soon after the election results were
announced.
He expects the same treatment to be meted out to Zille.
But the military veterans want an apology,
"She must stand up and apologise to the president at
the lekgotla," Maphatsoe said.
He added, however, that they expected Zuma to treat DA
leader with respect because "the president is more
matured than Zille".
MKMVA members are expected to march to Zille's office
tomorrow to present a memorandum demanding an apology
and retraction of her contentious comments.
Maphatsoe said they were expecting to be given
permission to undertake the march after it was refused
by the authorities last week.
He expects about 2 000 people to join the march which
will end at the premier's office.
"She must respect the constitution and must respect
the culture of individuals," said Maphatsoe. - Sapa
EsinIslam.Com
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