Lerato Mbhiza
THE families of ANC veterans rejected planned visits by former president Jacob Zuma and the MK party, saying the stalwarts will not be used as pawns in “political opportunism”.
This comes after a poster was circulated on social media announcing Zuma’s campaign in Limpopo, which was scheduled to include visits to the burial sites of former minister Collins Chabane and Peter “Dambuza” Malada in Xikundu village .
However, the families of Chabane and Malada have distanced themselves from the visits and rejected any relationship with the recently formed MK party.
The Collins Chabane Foundation criticised Zuma and his MK party for “scouring graves, awakening resting souls, looking for votes and resuscitating broken careers”.
“It was Moses Mabhida, then Dambuza and now it’s Collins Chabane. When will it end? The foundation would like to make it clear that Chabane’s family, the Mhinga royal house, and the foundation have not given the purported organisation permission to visit the family graveyard where the late Chabane has been laid to rest.His final resting place is a family property that is sacrosanct to the entire Mhinga clan”.
The family said it expects no one at their graveyard on the said date. “Let no one trample upon his soul and name for entrepreneurial political purposes,” it said in a statement and called on the ANC to protect all the resting places of their fallen heroes and soldiers.
Chabane, who died in a car crash in 2015, served as a cabinet minister under Zuma.
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