ANC members want the party to apologise to Dullah Omar's family

A group of disgruntled Western Cape ANC Youth League members are calling for the party’s provincial leadership to apologise and mend relations with the family of Dullah Omar.

This comes after the family announced that it did not want to be associated with the party’s Cape Metro Region which is named after the struggle stalwart. The announcement came when a march was organised by the region in support of President Jacob Zuma who faced a motion of no confidence in Parliament.

In a statement the group‚ which calls itself ANC Youth Activists‚ said it is inspired by Omar’s contribution to the liberation struggle.

“[We] would like to humbly apologise to the family after its name was dragged in the mud in this fashion‚” said the group.

Mesuli Kama‚ one of the members‚ said the grouping consisted of former ANCYL members in the province who had been fired by the current provincial leaders of the youth league.

Kama called Omar an "incorruptible leader" who would not have wanted his name associated with gatherings that were perceived to be in support of corruption.

“At this moment we ask for their [the Omar family’s] patience as the ANC is engaged in a self-cleansing process. We promise them that after December things will never be the same again‚” reads the statement.

ANC provincial secretary Faiez Jacobs confirmed he saw the statement of the group but said his office and that of the secretary-general had already planned to meet with the family.

“I was just synchronising with the diaries of national leadership. We are committed to [meeting with the family]‚” said Jacobs.

However the ANCYL Dullah Omar regional task team said the disgruntled members had not renewed their membership or met with them to raise their concerns.

“We condemn with strongest possible terms this grouping of disgruntled members under the banner of ANC Youth Activists. Our immediate thought was that the so called 'ANC youth activists' is a new organisation because there is no structure‚ league or alliance partner of the ANC which goes by such a name‚” read a statement issued by the league's spokesman‚ Luzuko Bashman.