ANC’s stray bullets will only end up going through its own head

To relatives, friends and comrades, a funeral signifies an emotional moment of mourning and celebrating the life of the departed.

Over the weekend, members of the disbanded uMkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans’ Association (MKMVA) descended in military-style camouflage on the home of the late MKMVA leader Kebby Maphatsoe for his final send off.

Nothing wrong with paying your last respects to someone you were in the trenches with.

But everything was wrong with the manner in which some self-styled firebrands masquerading as mourners showed disrespect to Maphatsoe and his family – the heckling of ANC national chair Gwede Mantashe halfway through his delivery of a eulogy, the brandishing and firing of guns.

In the chaos that ensued during the laying to rest of Maphatsoe, gunshots were fired in the air at the Westpark Cemetery in Johannesburg, a short distance away from the EeufeesOord Old Age Home.

An elderly resident of the home, Margaret Holloway, was hit by a stray bullet, said to have been fired at Maphatsoe’s graveside.

She now has to spend the rest of her life with the bullet lodged in her leg, because it cannot be removed.

What utter madness, considering that live shots fired into the air could kill someone.

While firing shots in the air was a common practice during the struggle when laying to rest fallen heroes, the tradition has run its course.

We pride ourselves on not being a military state and firing a gun in public is not only illegal, but is a downward slide away from the old values of the ANC.

Condemning the incident, ANC acting secretary-general Jessie Duarte was correctly forthright: “It is not a mark of respect to shoot a gun into the air when you don’t know where that bullet is going to end up.

“While the act is synonymous with many township funerals, this doesn’t make it right. It is still an illegal act and should be shunned by ANC members since so many people have been killed by stray bullets.”

Former finance minister Tito Mboweni tweeted: “In the history and politics of the ANC, the military is subordinate to the political leadership.

“No MK veteran or ordinary member can disrupt a speech of the ANC national chairperson – unheard of. Close ranks, comrades.”

Brandishing guns and heckling a senior ANC leader show something has gone horribly wrong.

Political intolerance and deepening factionalism has become a dangerous trend that threatens to tear apart the once revered liberation movement.

The ANC has been wrecked by jostling for positions, awarding of tenders and control of the public purse – contests which can become bloody and sometimes deadly.

In provinces like KwaZulu-Natal, assassinations of ANC leaders by their comrades is part of the new struggle.

With the October local government elections not far off, some ANC comrades are in the running to become mayors and councillors – not to deliver services, but to line their own pockets.

Mboweni summed it up: “The most corrupt among us sing and speak the loudest.

They claim to be the most revolutionary of all. Meanwhile back at the ranch…”

Signs of a pending implosion?