ANC rejects Lekota allegations that President Ramaphosa was a 'sellout'
14 February 2019
The ANC has rejected Mosiuoa Lekota's claims that President Cyril Ramaphosa was a "sellout".
"The ANC has full confidence in President Ramaphosa, and we do not take kindly to desperate attempts to call to question his integrity.
"Allegations of this nature are often made when the accuser fears exposure for his own misdeeds or runs out of political ideas," acting national spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said in a statement on Thursday.
This comes after the Cope leader said that Ramaphosa sold out student activists to the apartheid police special branch in the 1970s during the State of the Nation (SONA) debate on Wednesday.
"When it was difficult, you (Ramaphosa) wrote to the special branch that we put communist ideas in your head, in doing so you condemned us to the special branch.
"I say this because the special branch rewarded you and they sent you home and we headed to Robben Island," Lekota alleged in the National Assembly.
Dismissing these allegations, Kodwa said that the political party was behind its leader.
"Notwithstanding the baseless allegations made by Terror Lekota, the ANC will not be deterred in galvanising the nation to embrace a future where every citizen has a stake in growing South Africa into a vibrant and prosperous nation," he added.
Lekota labelled a betrayer
The ANC further claims that these "baseless allegations" are nothing but a way to throw stones and make attempts at denigrating Ramaphosa's character.
"The ANC has a proud history as a liberation movement that has fought to liberate all South Africans across the racial divide and has brought together people from different strands. Some of these people, who were trusted comrades and rose to the highest ranks of the ANC, have never hesitated to betray this legacy and trust when it suited their personal ambitions.
"Terror Lekota is one of those who had no qualms in betraying an organisation that shaped his politics and career over many decades for expediency," Kodwa said.
Professor Muxe Nkondo, who was the president's lecturer during the struggle against apartheid, says the allegations by Lekota were "very sad".
"I can confirm that I have no recollection of the president being accused of being a spy, even when he was my student.
"I am surprised that Mr Lekota can compromise the president years later. This is very sad," he concluded.
Ramaphosa delivered his SONA reply in the National Assembly on Thursday.
He addressed Lekota's allegations, stating he had never been a spy and had never sold out his comrades. Quoting former ANC leader Oliver Tambo, he warned the National Assembly to beware of "wedge drivers".
