By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
@AlaisterRussell.
Former president Thabo Mbeki says the ANC did not have a good story to tell, which is why he couldn’t campaign for the party until 2019.
Mbeki was addressing the Eastern Cape ANC’s extended provincial executive committee meeting in East London on Monday.
“The reason it was possible in 2019 to say that this time I will speak out to say, ‘please let’s vote the ANC’, was because of what the manifesto said. It did not say, ‘We’ve got a good story to tell.’ It said, ‘We’ve made mistakes, we’ve done wrong things.’
“Remember that manifesto, the title was ‘Let us grow South Africa together’, but it pointed to the mistakes. It said, ‘You see there is corruption, serious ethical problems, state institutions not delivering to the people and we, the ANC, make a commitment that we are going to grow South Africa together with you and therefore make a commitment to correct the wrong things that had happened.
So it seemed to me that at last the ANC was telling the truth and making a very serious commitment, and therefore it was possible to say, ‘Vote ANC’,” he said.
Until recently, Mbeki has rarely participated in ANC activities since his removal from office more than 12 years ago.
He said it was during president Cyril Ramaphosa’s tenure that it seemed the ANC was telling the truth, and this was why he returned to campaigning.
Continuing with his address on Monday, Mbeki criticised suspended ANC SG Ace Magashule for openly defying the ANC by not agreeing to step aside, as per the step-aside resolution by the national executive committee (NEC).
Speaking about the renewal of the governing party, Mbeki said the ANC was wrong to move away from its Mafikeng conference resolution of separating party and state.
He said it was wrong for ANC provincial chairs to assume the position of premier, adding that these positions must be separate.
Mbeki used the example of Magashule, who was Free State ANC chairperson during his administration.
“It seemed to us that we could not appoint him as premier,” Mbeki said. “The business of combining these two processes is wrong.”
Mbeki said the ANC needed to return to the Mafikeng discussion document to bring the party back to what it was and what it ought to be.
He added that a trusted leader of the ANC must be a loyal servant of the people and an agent for change.
“When you say that you are this servant of the people, this agent for change — practically how does it manifest itself, in the way in which the government operates and in the way in which individuals operate? You get people at national level who openly defy the decision of the NEC, even taking the ANC to court to challenge the NEC. What is that?” Mbeki said.
“The state capture reminds us members of the ANC every day about what has gone wrong. Every day ANC members are being [hauled before the commission, being told to] answer this. There is no way you can avoid the challenge of this renewal. It is facing us daily.”
Magashule has started court action to have his temporary suspension from his position halted, claiming that he is the victim of a purge of supporters of Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma for the 2017 elective conference, which saw Ramaphosa elected as ANC president.