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As ANC national spokesperson, Zizi Kodwa bowed out of his role after the party elected a new national executive committee (NEC) in December.
He celebrated his 48th birthday on Friday night.
Kodwa treated his guests at the Raddison Blu Hotel in Sandton to a good flow of holy water and shared his experiences in a light, short speech.
But first, he advertised his availability for any kind of job: “I’m like a hot cake now, I’m on the market. Everyone, including the previous NEC, wants to see me. I am expecting a call from [Cyril] Ramaphosa.”
He said that during his stint as ANC spokesperson, journalists often took him by surprise by asking for comment about things he hardly knew about, because some decisions were not taken by party structures, but elsewhere.
“On January 2 this year, I had lunch with mama Winnie [Madikizela-Mandela] in Soweto.
"For the first time, I spent my festive season here in Johannesburg. I had to report to mama Winnie. I told her: ‘Thank you very much for your advice, I trust I did not disappoint you.’
“She cried and said ‘I never thought you would survive’,” he told the audience.
He said he had hoped she would grace the occasion, but she was not feeling well.
He recalled how, during the Black Monday protests in November last year against farm murders, his personal trainer was delayed in getting to him, because the roads were blocked.
The trainer, Zander de la Rey, was one of his special guests.
Kodwa said the “young white Afrikaner” told him: “Mr Kodwa, the roads are blocked because there’s a protest. I don’t understand why my people are doing this.”
Kodwa said De la Rey’s story was an indication that not all young white Afrikaners were racist, which drew a round of applause.
Kodwa said he wrote an open letter to the organisers of the Black Monday protest.
Noma Gigaba, Savita Mbuli, Zizi Kodwa and Thembeka Cele at the Celebration of the 5 years as Former ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa and his birthday held at The Radisson Blu Hotel. Picture: Lucky Nxumalo
He also wrote to a 22-year-old Afrikaner woman who organised the biggest Black Monday event in Cape Town.
“That march was hijacked by a few conservative people who hoisted the old South African flag,” Kodwa said.
“That woman sent me an invitation to come to Stellenbosch after she had read my open letter saying ‘I love this country and my march was hijacked. I want to have pap and braaivleis with you.’
“We have a responsibility, as the ANC, to build a nation.
“We can’t, on the basis of some lunatics who are right wing, think that all young Afrikaners are born racist. That’s why Zander de la Rey is here,” he said.
