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ANC national spokesman Jackson Mthembu. Photo: Motshwari Mofokeng

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• Drama at Zuma address

The ANC condemned the conduct of ANCYL members who disrupted President Jacob Zuma's ANC centenary lecture in Cape Town on Thursday afternoon.

Several ANCYL members were thrown out of the Good Hope Centre by police and Zuma's bodyguards after they started to sing while Zuma was speaking, the SABC reported.

An SABC cameraman was hit while filming an anti-Zuma protest outside the venue.

“It is regrettable that an innocent journalist from SABC was injured during the scuffle that ensued when the disruptive elements were ejected from the lecture,” party spokesman Jackson Mthembu said in a statement.

He said the ANC would investigate, and if any members were found responsible, they would face disciplinary action. The party called on the police to act against those who endangered lives at the lecture.

The Inkatha Freedom Party said the attack on the cameraman was “a terrible attack on press freedom”.

“What happened reflects the lack of respect that the ANC has either inculcated or allowed to grow among its members,” spokesman and MP Mario Oriani-Ambrosini said in a statement.

Zuma apologised to lecture participants. While this was welcomed, Oriani-Ambrosini said it would not be sufficient without a firm commitment from the entire ANC leadership to change the way the ruling party dealt with the media.

Speaking in Johannesburg earlier in the day, Zuma said the ANCYL was a part of the ANC, and not a separate entity. - Sapa

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