PAC slams Malema for Sharpeville uprising comment

The PAC condemned ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema for accusing it of "hijacking" the Sharpeville protest.

“The PAC history has been written in blood and no amount of cheap rhetoric shall erase it,” PAC spokesman Lehlohonolo Shale said in a statement.

“On the same breath we are calling on the government of President Jacob Zuma to revert back to the historical names known by our people with reference to March 21 and June 16.

“These days are Sharpeville, Langa Day and Soweto Day respectively.”

Malema on Monday reportedly said the Sharpeville uprising of 1960 --during which police shot and killed 69 people protesting about pass laws—was organised by the ANC but “hijacked” by the PAC.

The ANC refused to be drawn into the fray on Tuesday.

“We are not commenting on what the ANC Youth League president

said on this particular matter,” party spokesman Jackson Mthembu said.

Malema’s comments also outraged the PAC’s youth, Payco, who described him as a “Mickey Mouse pop star” who “knows nothing” about the liberation struggle.

“We will never allow this political buffoon to rape the proud, rich liberation struggle credentials of PAC... A high school drop-out like Malema who cannot even pass woodwork cannot be expected to grapple with... subjects like history.

“It is only in the ANC where fools like him are allowed to occupy leadership positions,” Payco said in a statement.

Payco called the comments as “foolish lies” and wanted a public apology from Malema.

“The fact of history is that PAC organised and led the Positive Action Campaign and the ANC rejected an invitation from PAC founding President Mangaliso Sobukwe.

“Through its then secretary-general, Duma Nokwe, the ANC refused to participate in the march saying ‘ANC is not going to participate in this protest because it lacks proper planning and it has no prospects of success’,” it said.

ANC Youth League spokeswoman Magdalene Moonsamy, however, said Malema’s comments should be viewed within the wider context in which the Sharpeville protests took place.

“What he [Malema] was speaking about was the mobilisation prior to Sharpeville which was managed by the ANC,” she said, adding that the “truth had to be told” irrespective of how “uncomfortable” it was for some quarters.

“The defiance campaign, which is the broader context, was initiated by the ANC in 1952.”

It was important, Moonsamy said, for the youth league to ensure that the country’s history be correctly reflected.

“We agree that we must never undermine nation building in this country, but we must do it truthfully.”