Sep 28, 2006Articles: ANC Youth League distances itself from Zuma's gay-bashing statement
By VZ
The ANC Youth League - a staunch ally of ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma - has reacted to his Heritage Day gay-bashing statement, saying it was his personal view and not that of the ANC. Youth League President Fikile Mbalula said Zuma was speaking for himself when he said same-sex marriages were a taboo and should not be tolerated in any normal
society.
"If it is true that he has articulated what we have come to read about, it is his own articulation and not the ANC position and we stand by the ANC position, (which is) non-sexism, non-discrimination and equality.
"Gay rights are human rights and that is what makes our constitution the most progressive in the world," Mbalula told the Cape Times in an interview after a press conference in which he defended Zuma against "unfair treatment" by the National Prosecuting Authority.
Zuma told an audience during Heritage Day celebrations in Kwadukuza in KwaZulu-Natal that, when he was growing up "an ungqingili (a gay person) would not have stood in front of me. I would knock him out".
Human rights and gender lobby groups have have expressed disgust at the statement, with some gay associations wanting to know if Zuma's remarks reflect the ANC's thinking.
Asked whether they were worried at such utterances by the second most senior ruling party official - who could possibly become the next president of the organisation and the country - Mbalula said Zuma would not change ANC policies.
"Policies of the ANC are not made by individuals, they are made by the organisation and no individual can change ANC positions. Zuma's position is his own position, it's not an ANC position," he said.
Mbalula added that it was regrettable that Zuma could make such a statement in public, given his position in the organisation.
"It is very unfortunate (for someone as senior as him) in our organisation to have made such a particular statement.
"But it is his position and not our position."
The ANC apparently debated the issue during one of its national working committee meetings, in preparation for the holding of public hearings on same-sex marriages.
The ANC is believed to have reiterated its liberal approach about equality and its position against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
Zuma, who attended the meeting, is said not to have expressed his view about the issue.
Neither ANC spokesman Smuts Ngonyama nor the organisation's secretary-general, Kgalema Motlanthe, could be reached for comment yesterday.
