By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Former African National Congress (ANC) president Thabo Mbeki says that in order for the party to solve challenges facing communities such as service delivery, crime and unemployment, the party first needed to know what was affecting it from within.
Mbeki spoke at the gravesite of one of the ANC founders, John Langalibalele Dube, in KwaZulu-Natal on Sunday.
The former president has been crisscrossing the country to garner votes for the ANC ahead of the May 29 elections.
He said there was a lot the party had to solve internally before it could deliberate on the challenges facing the people.
“If you got a Thabo Mbeki who is sitting there and is useless, remove him so that you can put somebody who is useful, who is going to do the things that are necessary to be done.”
“I have worked with the people in this province for so many years. These are rational people, and they know the ANC very well. And I believe when we communicate with them in a manner that the people know is truthful, then they will do the right thing.
“But it’s really up to the people, but I think we must really communicate with the people in a manner that people will get convinced that this is the truth.
He said that elections or not, the ANC must remain committed to the electorate but this will need people who were up to the task.
Mbeki added that the party also had to ensure that its manifesto was implemented.
Meanwhile Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema says under his leadership, he will ensure that people of Northern Cape benefit from all the minerals that are produced in that province.
Malema was addressing supporters in Postmansburg on Sunday.
He says it is unacceptable that the inhabitants of Northern Cape are living in poverty while the province is rich in minerals.
He adds, “We need a government that is going to say no iron ore or manganese is going to leave Tsantsabane. We want you to beneficiate here because, when you beneficiate here then they create jobs. You must know that when all these minerals leave it is finished goods.”
Hundreds of supporters who came to listen to Malema’s address say they are hopeful that their lives will change for the better after the May elections.
Elsewhere UMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party leader and former President Jacob Zuma says the ANC is not applying its step aside rule consistently.
Zuma made the remark at a MK Party rally in KwaMashu north of Durban.
The step aside rule by the ANC requires members who are charged with corruption or other serious crimes to refrain from party and government activities.
In December last year, Zuma announced he would be backing the MK Party in this month’s general elections.
Zuma says the current ANC leadership has lost the party’s founding values.
“Then it started that some leaders were behaving in certain ways, thinking they were the owners of the organisation and not us as members of the organisation.They were creating all sorts of rules that we don’t know where they were coming from.They didn’t consult anyone to ask, this is what we are doing now. You would hear there is this new thing, you don’t know. Step aside, you don’t know why you should step aside. They tell people to step aside but they don’t step aside.”
Zuma maintains that while he remains a member of the ANC, he will vote for the MK Party.