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A true leader faces up to booing
News24 reports that in a speech made prior to the ANC’s 102nd anniversary celebrations, ANC secretary general - Gwede Mantashe – said that if a party leader walks away from a booing crowd it reflects that he or she is shallow and, as a result, is not a true leader.
Mantashe was referring to the two separate incidents last year where both Helen Zille (premier of the Western Cape) and President Jacob Zuma were booed while they were on stage: Zille at the launch of the Saldanha Bay Industrial Development Zone and Zuma at former president, Nelson Mandela’s, memorial service.
"In the ANC, if I am booed I stay on because I am given a task to execute by the ANC. When I walk away, I don't execute the task given to me. I still do not understand the logic of a leader walking out because he [or she] was booed. I will never understand it, because it reflects political shallowness, from where I am seated,” said Mantashe.
"It is just a part of political life. Booing is not a threat, it is just a nuisance in an activity," he said.
