South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa addressed an event at the Fort Hare University in the Eastern Cape on Wednesday to commemorate Maxeke’s 150th birthday. He used the platform to lambast indiscipline and corruption by some members of the ANC.

In what could be viewed as a veiled jab at ANC heavyweights like former President Jacob Zuma, who was refusing to follow the party position on issues like the state capture commission, Ramaphosa referred to Charlotte Maxeke as an exemplary leader who always toed the party line.”uMama Charlotte Maxeke was never indiscipline.

When the organisation says this is the decision, she was not one to say ‘I am going to do a different thing altogether. ‘He described Maxeke as “a woman of integrity.” She would have said no to corruption. She would have known that corruption in the African National Congress is like poison and it kills.

First, it will kill the organisation and then it will kill our people’s appetite to support the African National Congress. The president said that “if Maxeke was alive today, she would focus on ensuring renewal and unity of the ANC”, a slogan aligned to his 2017 ANC presidential bid.

Mellisa Sithole.