JZ in soup for vets slur

Senior ANC delegates at the party's policy conference at Nasrec, south of Johannesburg, want the indaba to order President Jacob Zuma to apologise to party veterans for insulting them.

During a discussion of the ANC's policy documents on strategy and organisational renewal at commission No11, ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu and MP Mondli Gungubele proposed they should recommend that Zuma be asked to apologise to the 101 ANC veterans for referring to them as "so-called veterans" in his political overview, which was delivered at the start of the conference on Friday.

Zuma departed from his prepared speech and said that "some of these members are not as strong as they project themselves".

Mthembu and Gungubele argued their commission should recommend a resolution to the closing plenary on Wednesday that Zuma should apologise to the veterans.

A conference source said: "Their argument was that you cannot address people who have served the ANC for so long as 'so-called' veterans.

Neither Gungubele nor Mthembu could be reached for comment.

Another senior ANC leader said there was a lot of unhappiness among delegates about Zuma's attack on the veterans.

The leader said delegates were shocked that Zuma chose to deviate from his written text to lash out at the 101 veterans group.

Boy Mamabolo, a delegate from the Milo Malatji branch in Polokwane, in Limpopo, said Zuma was "out of order".

"The ANC chairman Baleka Mbete should have called him to order," Mamabolo said.

"How can he refer to our stalwarts as 'so-called'?

"We will demand that he apologise to them on Wednesday."

Mamabolo said his branch would send a letter to the ANC's policy conference steering committee and the party's disciplinary committee calling for action to be taken against Zuma for sowing divisions in the ANC.

ANC national spokesman Zizi Kodwa said he was unable to comment on discussions taking place in commissions.

"We comment on resolutions adopted by conference, not discussions," he said.

Speaking on behalf of the 101 veterans, ANC stalwart Wally Serote said they were shocked by Zuma's assault on them.

"We are shocked at the way the president abused the platform of the ANC policy conference to attack the stalwarts and veterans of the ANC.

"The stalwarts and veterans are totally perplexed by the bizarre and dishonest statements by the president that we are 'so-called' leaders," said Serote.