Strictly for dummies...

By Kanina Foss

The ANC Youth League has received a copy of Politics for Dummies,
hand-delivered to its offices at Luthuli House, decoratively tied with
red raffia.

The gift was sent by AfriForum Youth in reaction to ANC Youth League
president, Julius Malema's "radical and irresponsible" statements.

Malema had said the league would "crush" and "eliminate" anyone trying
to prevent Jacob Zuma becoming the country's next president.

"We'd like to see the Youth League being more cautious. We feel these
statements are not in the best interests of democracy," said AfriForum
Youth chairperson Ernst Roets.

Politics for Dummies is part of a series that purport to make difficult
subjects understandable.

"We feel the Youth League needs to be educated in some of the
fundamental principles of democracy. Yes, free speech is important, but
with that comes responsibilities," said Roets.

The book was presented to ANCYL media liaison officer Thandi Mokaba.
Afterwards, ANCYL national spokesperson Floyd Shivambu lashed out.

"We cannot be told how to speak by a group of racists who want to
protect white privileges at the expense of addressing the social and
economic conditions created by a racist regime," said Shivambu.

"I think they are a group of crazy, racist people. They're not in the
pursuit of democracy, they're in the pursuit of regressive regimes.
Since when does AfriForum know about democracy?" he said.

"If they want to speak to us, they must not come through backdoors, so
we're not even going to entertain that thing (the book)," said Shivambu.

* *This article was originally published on page 3 of **The Star*
<http://www.thestar.co.za/>* on September 17, 2008 *