Johannesburg – Pan Africanist Youth Congress of Azania spokesperson Sello Tladi said former president Nelson Mandela was a sell-out, The Citizen reported on Monday.
“He betrayed us by rubber-stamping the 1913 Land Act through the adoption of [the] Freedom Charter,” Tladi was quoted as saying.
“The problem with the Freedom Charter is that it made African people to be landless.”
Tladi was reportedly addressing Pan Africanist Congress, Azanian People’s Organisation and Socialist Party of Azania supporters who had gathered at the Regina Mundi church in Soweto to commemorate Youth Day on Sunday.
Tladi said Mandela was greedy.
“… We have the majority of poor people dying of various diseases because they have no access to the expensive medication that Mandela is receiving.
“What is special with Mandela that is not special with the ordinary man in the street on Soweto?” Tladi asked.
Mandela was admitted to a Pretoria hospital on 8 June due to a recurring lung infection. On Monday, he was spending his tenth day in hospital.
The African National Congress spokesperson Keith Khoza said Tladi’s comments were simply the view of an individual.
ANC Youth League national task team convenor Mzwandile Masina said the comments were unfortunate, insensitive and politically immature.
