Burning of the ANC flag in the protest outside Chief Albert Luthuli House 

UMkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association view with grave concern the protest outside the Chief Albert Luthuli House, the headquarters of the African National Congress, at which the ANC flag was burned.

We abhor also the burning of the t-shirt bearing the face of the President of the ANC, comrade Jacob Zuma.

We believe that these public displays of anarchy orchestrated by the ANC Youth League supporters of Julius Malema and his leadership collective have crossed the line.

We, as servants of the people of South Africa, took an oath, and declared ourselves ready to sacrifice our own lives to safe guard the ANC flag which we believe is a symbol of sacrifice, pride, frustrations, achievements and hope of our people.

Our position when we took our oath still remains. We stand in defence of the ANC, its alliance, its symbols, values, traditions, leadership and its constitution. We stand in defence of the people of South Africa for which we fought to install power into their hands.

We are left with no doubt in our mind that those who are involved in this protest and burned the ANC flag are carrying out the orders of their masters, who are bent on creating chaos, and mayhem, not only within the ANC, but also in our country.

Their actions are clearly meant to divide our communities and ultimately the South African society. Their deliberate actions are clearly meant to plant the seeds of a civil war in our country.

We who have fought against apartheid take a stand that we shall never allow our country to slip into the dark days of war. We declare that we shall defend the ANC its alliance, the people of South Africa and all their gains with everything in our might.

The processes in the ANC are fair, and favour no one above the rest. The constitution is made for all its members and no one member or a cohort of membership enjoys exclusion from its rules and regulations. In this stance, we shall never allow the ANC to be intimidated.

To this end we call on all members of the ANC and the Alliance, and members of MKMVA to rally to the defence of the ANC its constitution and its leadership.

We also call upon all South Africans to isolate anarchy in their midst and ensure that their democratic gains are not eroded by criminality and criminals in which some politicians seem to have invested in attempt to destabilise dialogue, the rule of law and democracy in our country. 

Statement issued by Kebby Maphatsoe, MKMVA National Chairperson, August 30 2011

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