A former chief of military intelligence, Maomela Motau, has defied the chief of the defence force, Gen Solly Shoke, by urging serving soldiers to take part in a meeting to discuss how to intervene in ANC internal politics.
Motau told the Sunday Times that his group would soon meet ANC leaders to express their views on the state of the party.
This week Shoke issued a statement distancing the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) from a meeting called by Motau on Friday.
Shoke said no member of the SANDF was authorised to attend Motau's meeting and warned active troops against taking part in the gathering.
But yesterday, Motau, a recipient of the Order of Luthuli in silver, said the Defence Act did not prohibit serving defence force soldiers from participating in political party activities.
"There was nobody who was invited as a military person. Therefore if military people decided that in their private capacity they are going to attend the summit, it's within their right do so," said Motau.
He quoted the Defence Act, which states that "no member of the regular force may hold any position other than that of ordinary member in any political party".
"The statement by General Shoke was really unfortunate and ill-advised because it is unlawful. It violated the section that I have quoted . He can't preclude soldiers from doing what is within their right. I think he was pressurised."
But ANC veteran Mavuso Msimanga said Motau's meeting was worrying.
"It is concerning when people who are in the military currently were invited to that gathering. I am not sure if they went in uniform or not, but I am afraid that even the mention of attendees by their army ranking, even if retired, is worrying.
"I think General Motau, he means well but he tends to fly off the handle sometimes."
Motau would not give details of what was discussed at Friday's meeting or who attended. He said the meeting had written a 20-page document that analysed the problems in the ANC.
The meeting coincided with the march in Durban by members of the Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association.
The group is associated with the "radical economic forces" in the ANC.
The members marched to the ANC's KwaZulu-Natal head office and demanded, among other things, that the party implement conference resolutions.
The president of the association, Kebby Maphatsoe, said the members who marched had the full support of the national structure despite having been "disowned" by the association's provincial leaders.
"Them [the association's KwaZulu-Natal provincial executive] distancing themselves and saying they did not know about the march is not true; they are in the WhatsApp group where this march and grievances were discussed. I am also in the group," he said.
A memorandum handed to the ANC included calls for the "immediate implementation of conference resolutions and stepping down or resignation of those [national executive committee] members who have failed and/or refused to implement resolutions of the supreme body of the ANC".
Maphatsoe said despite some of the demands being perceived as an attack on the ANC leadership, the march was not a factional show of power but one of concern about the ANC not implementing conference resolutions. "The resolutions of the conference are binding on all members, that is why we have made mistakes because little gets implemented in government. Comrades who are deployed in government move away from those resolutions."
He lamented a tendency of "cherry-picking" which resolutions got implemented and said the ANC had allowed its leaders deployed in government to fail its members. He called for stricter monitoring.
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