By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The ANC in the Free State has invited former president Thabo Mbeki to address the Provincial Interim Committee on the unity of the party.
Mbeki is said to have called for the membership of all card-carrying members of the party to be audited while Mxolisi Dukwana, ANC Free State interim provincial committee (IPC) convener, seemed to be calling for its entire overhaul.
Mbeki is spending the weekend in the Free State to help the party rebuild its structures as party of a renewal process after years of chaotic rule under then provincial chair and premier Ace Magashule.
ANC insiders who attended the closed session on Friday just outside Bloemfontein said they supported Mbeki’s call.
“Political audit is when you present your resume as to when you came onboard and brought or recruited by whom. Then whose you mention must attest to that. In other words, we call it political vetting, “said an insider.
Dukwana was asked what he thought it would take for the ANC to start actioning the renewal process which has so far only been rhetoric.
He said the party may be forced to overhaul its entire membership and start afresh as the ANC had been infiltrated by “criminal elements”.
Meanwhile Magashule when asked about the divisions and factions within the ANC, he maintained the party is divided and needs leaders who will not be bought.
“My heart is also bleeding and I am sure the blood of all those who love the ANC and know what we have done during the years of the struggle. I am sure their hearts are also bleeding when we are so divided, what is dividing us is money, and the trajectory the ANC is staking, implementing the resolutions of conference.
“The ANC is being turned into an organisation of those who love money, I don’t think that is right thing, we should make sure its the organisation of everyone, and it doesn’t abandon the workers and the poor,” added Magashule.
Magashule was speaking on a Spaces, a live audio feature on Twitter, on Friday, as He gears up for his latest court appearance in the R255 million Free State asbestos corruption saga.
The ANC has never recovered from what happened at its 52nd conference. There can never be unity in the ANC if both these leaders do not make peace. Unity is a difficult process for anyone, as people have to put their differences aside, talk to each other and find lasting political solutions.
It is surprising that no one has ever asked former ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe why he chose to be on the Jacob Zuma slate as his deputy president when he served as secretary-general in the build-up to the 52nd elective conference.
Members of the ANC need to ask some of these difficult questions if they are serious about unity within their organisation. The ANC’s biggest problem is that all the factions point fingers at each other instead of looking at the role they have played individually to weaken the party through the years.