Mabuyane calls for unity in the ANC
Chairman says members already engaging in spats
ANC Eastern Cape chairman Oscar Mabuyane has called on the party’s national officials to walk the talk of unity, for the sake of Nelson Mandela.
The party has dedicated this year to Mandela who was the face of a united South Africa, post-apartheid.
The call came while the party’s top leaders were locked behind closed doors, discussing its former president Jacob Zuma and his future as president of the country – a phenomenon dubbed “the two centres of power”.
Addressing the Eastern Cape lekgotla which started at the East London International Convention Centre yesterday, Mabuyane said: “We need to restore the unity of purpose and sense of common destiny that was forged under the leadership of Nelson Mandela.
“This, in fact, is probably the most important foundation laid by Isitwalandwe Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, one of the greatest leaders of all time, whose life and legacy we celebrate this year of 2018,” he said.
Mabuyane, who was elected last year in a highly contested elective conference at the same venue, said the ANC needed to put an end “to the divisions within the organisation, which continue to tear our movement apart”.
“We just emerged from a united 54th national conference, yet it seems we are fast returning back to our old ways of public spats, contradicting statements within the leadership of the ANC, indecisiveness, and other growing negative tendencies within our ranks,” he said.
“It is days like these when one is reminded of the words of president Oliver Tambo who explained that ‘No political force can destroy the ANC, it is only the ANC that can destroy itself ’.
“We should ensure that we do not repeat the mistakes of our dark past, let us truly ensure that 2018 is the year for renewal, unity, and [creation of] jobs,” Mabuyane said.
Several senior cabinet minister were part of the meeting.