Andile Mngxitama slates Save SA’s People’s Assembly as ‘bogus’

Leader of Black First Land First (BLF) Andile Mngxitama has slammed Save South Africa campaign’s People’s Assembly on the “real” state of the nation, saying it’s a bogus state of the nation address in defence of “white monopoly capital”.

On Wednesday, Mngxitama said the movement’s leader Sipho Pityana – who has once again called for President Jacob Zuma to resign from office, to loud cheers of support from hundreds of people at St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town – is an employee and shareholder of the Oppenheimer’s establishment Anglo Gold Ashanti.

Pityana is the chairperson of the mining giant that the well-heeled family helped to establish, the Anglo American Corporation.

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Mngxitama alleged that the African National Congress (ANC) veteran was instructed by the family to host the gathering as an alternative to Thursday’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) to be delivered by Zuma to the nation.

BLF also promoted the hashtag #PityanaTheAskari on social networking site Twitter as a reference to members of the ruling party during the apartheid era that were regarded as sellouts and worked with the former oppressive regime’s police force.

Save SA said their People’s Assembly was designed to allow South Africans to share their grievances about the current ANC government.

It hopes to galvanise citizens from all sectors of civil society to demand Zuma’s resignation and accountability from state leaders, including calling for the cancellation of the controversial nuclear build programme by government.

Pityana said the country was facing major challenges of nepotism, corruption and state capture, with Zuma at the centre of the problems.

Meanwhile, a group of ANC protesters have marched on Save SA’s gathering and accused the organisation of pushing a political agenda.