ANC elections a matter of life and death – Gwede

Party needs to rid itself of association with corruption and looting

As the ANC prepares for its elective conference in December‚ the party will have to choose between life and death.

This is according to ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, who delivered a memorial lecture on the party’s longest serving president‚ Oliver Reginald Tambo‚ in Vosloorus on the East Rand yesterday.

“The choice that the ANC has in December is a choice between life and death. It’s a choice between prosperity and disaster. The choice that we have in December is to first cleanse the ANC because we are in a transition of moving from a particular era to the next‚” said Mantashe.

He said using dirty tricks to discredit presidential candidates will destroy the party.

His remarks come just a week after Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa made headlines after becoming embroiled in an alleged sex scandal.

Mantashe said the party needs leaders who will unite factions and deal with corruption for the sake of the country.

He said the ANC needed to cleanse itself of negativity by choosing the right calibre of leaders because the time between now and the elective conference was crucial.

He said the ANC should only think about electing credible leaders at that conference.

“Branches of the ANC must analyse every individual leader and not just support a slate that has been brought to you.”