Civic body files contempt of court application over ANCYL refusal to apologise for disrupting Kathrada memorial

26 May 2017 - 18:28 By Bongani Mthethwa
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STORM TROOPERS: ANC Youth League supporters disrupt the Durban memorial service for Ahmed Kathrada on 9 April 2017.
STORM TROOPERS: ANC Youth League supporters disrupt the Durban memorial service for Ahmed Kathrada on 9 April 2017.
Image: ROGAN WARD

The ongoing standoff between the Active Citizens Movement (ACM) and the ANC Youth League over the disruption of ANC stalwart Ahmed Kathrada’s memorial service in Durban is still raging.

On Friday the ACM filed another court application for contempt of court against the league after it refused to apologise for disrupting the service last month‚ during which former finance minister Pravin Gordhan and ANC treasurer Zweli Mkhize were booed by its members.

Before the service‚ the league had threatened to prevent any speaker from criticising President Jacob Zuma. The ACM obtained an interdict ordering the league to refrain from disrupting the service.

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After the service‚ the AMC demanded that the league apologise in writing for violating the court order granted by the high court in Durban‚ instructing them not to interrupt the memorial.

It had proposed that the league offer “an unconditional and unequivocal apology to” to Kathrada’s family and the people of South Africa for the “unlawful disruption” of the service.

The league had been instructed to publish the apology in two weekend newspapers‚ including the Sunday Times‚ and two Durban daily newspaper. But the league refused to do so and instead proposed a meeting between the two parties to resolve the matter.

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The ACM said it had not received a request for such a meeting.

In the latest court application‚ the ACM is asking the court to order KwaZulu-Natal youth league secretary Thanduxolo Sabelo and the league to publish a detailed apology to the Kathrada family‚ itself and the general public.

“This apology has to be published in provincial and national newspapers‚ in both English and Zulu‚” ACM spokesman Yaschica Padia said in a statement.

The organisation was also asking the courts to order the league to pay certain sums of money to a non-governmental organisation working to support vulnerable children‚ a matter that was close to Kathrada’s heart.

“If they fail to do so the court is being asked to authorise Sabelo’s arrest and the attachment of assets of the ANCYL‚” said Padia.

“The view of the ACM is that the ANCYL cannot show such abject disrespect for the law. If left unchecked by the courts‚ the ANCYL will be emboldened to act even more outrageously than they have already done.”

Youth league provincial spokesman Mandla Shange said they will seek advice from their lawyers on how to deal with the ACM’s court application.

He added that the AMC had not responded to the league’s request for a meeting.

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