By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
African National Congress (ANC) secretary General, Fikile Mbalula addressed the community of Kagiso in Gauteng as part of the 2019 ANC Regional Manifesto review engagements.
Mbalula has blamed infighting for the party’s dip in electoral support. The recent attempted killing of a regional leader highlighted fissures in the party, he said.
He conceded that Eskom’s crippling power cuts were driving voters away from the ANC, also adding that corruption was killing the party.
Mbalula also criticized Fani Titi, saying that Titi would not have become CEO of Investec if it were not for the ANC’s policies on black economic empowerment.
Titi, said South Africans should use next year’s elections to vote out “useless” politicians who have failed to prioritise jobs and drive investment, choosing leaders instead who will get the struggling economy back on track.
However, Mbalula accused Titi of pleasing his superiors while also advocating for the ANC government to step down.
During a recent speech at the Gordon Institute of Business Science in Johannesburg, Titi expressed his lack of confidence in the current government, stating,
The ANC has led Africa’s most industrialised nation since white-minority rule ended in 1994. The government made initial strides in tackling poverty, unemployment and inequality, but its performance deteriorated markedly during former president Jacob Zuma’s nine-year rule, which was marred by repeated corruption scandals, policy missteps, and inappropriate appointments.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, who succeeded Zuma in 2018, has struggled to turn the situation around, with output constrained by electricity shortages and logistics bottlenecks.
The economy has expanded less than 2% a year over the past decade, the International Monetary Fund doesn’t expect its performance to improve markedly until 2028 at the earliest, and the National Treasury has warned that state debt is approaching unsustainable levels.
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Video Courtesy of MYANC.